










SHOP M^AGEMENT. 


No. 1003 * 


13 - 


SHOP MANAGEMENT ,:f 


BY FRED. \V. TAYLOR, PHILADELPHIA. 

(Member of the Society.) 


The following is an index to the subjects treated in this pape 


PARAGE 
NUMB1 . 


' . . * 1 
lie writer’s chief object in Wx vein<r tliis pi per is to advocate the accurate 

study of “how long it takes to do woi<r,” Scientific Time Study as 

the foundation of the best management, 

92, 93, 133, 135, 140, 260, 261, 325, 3oi, 391, 

he other important object in writing this paper is advocating the coup- , 

limr of hieh wages for the workman with low labor cost for the em- 

ployer. 

( he unevenness of management. 

ack of apparent relation between good stop management and the pay¬ 
ment of dividend. 

vVliat is the best index to good shop management.13, 2( 

f'hy it is possible to pay high wages and still have a low labor cost. 

3 rcat difference between first-class and average men. 


Jhief obstacles in the way of attaining high wages and lov T labor cost.. . 

The Evils of “Soldiering.” 

|auses for Soldiering. Paying all men in a class uniform wages. 

le chief cause is to prevent their employers from knowing how fast w •; k 

can be done.. 

Partial remedies for soldiering.*. 

1 The best type of day work. : . 

1 Contract work. 

Towne Halsey plan. 


\ * Presented at the Saratoga meeting (June, 1903) f u e *• ^ ocn 

Meehanical Engineers, and forming part of V'ii’imc \Ai' - 11 



’} ..> P 

Richards. 




Mo. 341, vol. x., p. 600: “Gaia Sh.v 
No. 449, vol. xii., p. 755: “P ! 
v ,, 017 vo] y vi p 859* “ » •• 


jwne. 

jr Labor.” F. A. H. 
W. Taylor. 























bilUi' MANAGEMENT. 




PARAGBAPH 

NUMBER. 


Th/i 


Cor 


Coo 

Tot 


only true remedy for soldiering...92, 93, 133 

Accurate time study. 

iparison of the ordinary methods of shop management with manage¬ 
ment founded on accurate time study as a foundation. 

tract work. 

Deration not successful.. 

ne Halsey plan. 

great objection to all of the ordinary systems, including the Towne 
Halsey plan. Lack of knowledge as to how quick work can be done. 

84, 92 


135 

140 


135 

66 

73 

78 


, 93 


Accurate Scientific Time Study. 


hr 


Fr 


1 K 


Vlr. 

Biff 

The 


Fac 


m.' 

Tit! 


antages to be derived from it. Leading object in writing this paper. 
Illustrations of what has been accomplished by it. ^ ard labor in 

Bethlehem Steel Co. .93, 95, 

only true remedy for soldiering.92, 93, 133-135, 

lid be one of the functions or divisions of the planning department. . 
the work to be done by machine tools resulted in making sffde rules 

for indicating the best speed and feed.261, 

tils of Scientific Time Study. 

methods and implements. 

Gantt’s system of Task Work with a Bonus.168, 170, 

•rential Rate System of piece work.162, 168, 170, 171, 

reason for many failures that are made when changes in organization 

are undertaken. 

s that should be carefully considered by the managers of a company 

before making any changes in organization.142- 

rrtance of having the best type of organization. 

writer has never been opposed by a strike.158- 


133 

140 

260 


393 

325 

331 

171 

178 


141 


290 

146 

410 


^ 1 - 537 % 




The Task Idea in Management. 

1 or object in management, namely high wages and a low labor 

1 08 C:) a best be attained by including the idea of a “ daily task" 

i of management.149-152 

1,1 8 ^ idea in management. 159 

s ^ v h!< 1 8 ic.'essfully applied under day work, piece work, 

isk \\ ork \\i 1 ; , B onus or the Differential Rate System of Piece 

oik. Each of tv o, ins has its especial field and they should 

)0 ll8ec ^ no (>a * e » ^ iwever, without accurate time study as a 
loundation. 

he particular case in whi wild be used. Davwork... 164 

T P y ff Ce " ork ,. 166-170 

Differential rate piece work 168-171 

Mr. Gantt's system. Task Wort- ' 'Durability oV making 

the task as short 

•• • • • - i 


































SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1339 


Illustrations of the Practical Results Attained Through the 
Application of the Task Idea in Management. 

PARAGRAPH 

NUMBER. 

Under day work in the works of the Providence Screw Co. 165 

Under straight 'piece work in handling the yard labor in the works of the 

Bethlehem Steel Co. 95 

Piece work in inspecting bicycle balls in the works of the Simonds Rolling 

Machine Co., at Fitchburg, Mass. 195 

Differential rate piece work, Midvale Steel Co., Philadelphia.180, 194 

Differential rate piece work, Simonds Rolling Machine Co. 201 

Standards. 

Necessity for and economy resulting from the adoption of standards.. . 284 

The task idea cannot be successfully applied without the adoption of 

standard details. 169 

One of the functions of the planning department should be the system¬ 
atic maintenance of standards.269, 298 

Planning Department. 

The adoption of the task idea in management involves (at least in the 
case of an establishment doing intricate work) the abandonment of 
individual or personal management and the substitution of a plan¬ 
ning department to do all of the detail of the work of management. 154, 257 


Planning department does not involve additional work and expense; 

merely concentrates the planning and brain work in one place.155, 279 

Analogy between the methods of modern engineering and those of mod¬ 
ern management. 156 

Advantages of planning department and functional foremanship. 318 

The functions to be performed in the planning department.233, 256 

Bethlehem Steel Co. yard labor—results attained through accurate time 

study. 95 

Desirability of individual piece work as against gang work. 118 

Different types of organization required according to the nature of th'-i 

business. 211 

Reasons why under the usual, or what may be called the military type of 

organization, it is almost impossible to get good foremen. 214 

General analysis of the duties and qualities demanded of a good foreman. .216, 222 
Functional management should be substituted for the military type. .. . 233 

Functional management defined. 234 

Four kinds of functional foremen should directly help the men in their 
work in the shop—Gang Boss, Speed Boss, Inspector, Repair Boss— 

outline of their duties. 235 

Four functional foremen should give them their directions from the plan¬ 
ning department; with outline of their duties. 240 

Cost of production when complicated work is done is lowered by sepa¬ 
rating the work of planning and the brain work as much as possible 

from the manual work. 280 

Practical illustrations of this on a large scale. 281 

“Exception ” principle in management. The importance of it. 288 























1340 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


PARAGRAPH 

NUMBER. 


Each workman should daily write certain information needed by planning 

department. How to induce them to do this. 289 

Instruction cards are to the art of management what drawings are to the 

science of engineering.242, 405 


Steps to be Taken in Changing from Ordinary to the Best Type of 

Management...290, 295 


Importance of getting a competent man to take entire charge of any new 

system of management. 296 

Where to begin in making changes in management.297,313 

Object lessons absolutely necessary to convince workmen of the desira¬ 


bility of changes.294, 304 

Begin with foremen and superintendents.304, 305 

The selection of men for leading positions. 30G 

No system can do a-way with the necessity for good men. 322 

The personal relations which should be maintained between employers and 

their men. 410 

Labor unions.422, 129 

Methods of disciplining the men... 439 

The proper relations of Philanthropic and Paternal schemes to managment 452 


1. Through his business in changing the methods of shop man¬ 
agement, the writer has been brought into intimate contact for 
several years with the organization of manufacturing and indus¬ 
trial establishments, covering a large variety and range of pro¬ 
duct, and employing workmen in many of the leading trades. 

2. In taking a broad view of the field of management, the two 
facts which appear most noteworthy are: 

(1) What may be called the great unevenness , or lack of 
uniformity shown, even in our best run works, in the develop¬ 
ment of the several elements, which together constitute what is 
called the management. 

(2) The lack of apparent relation between good shop manage¬ 
ment and the payment of dividends. 

3. Although the day of trusts is here, still practically each of 
the component companies of the trusts was developed and built up 
largely through the energies and especial ability of some one or 
two men who were the master spirits in directing its growth. As 
a rule, this leader rose from a more or less humble position in on‘e 
of the departments, say in the commercial or the manufacturing 
department, until he became the head of his particular section. 
Having shown especial ability in his line, he was for that reason 
made manager of the whole establishment. 














SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1341 


4. In examining the organization of works of this class, it will 
frequently he found that the management of the particular de¬ 
partment in which this master spirit has grown up, towers to a 
high point of excellence, his success having been due to a thor¬ 
ough knowledge of all of the smallest requirements of his section, 
obtained through personal contact, and the gradual training of 
the men under him to their maximum efficiency. 

5. The remaining departments, in which this man has had but 
little personal experience, will often present equally glaring 
examples of inefficiency. And this, mainly because management 
is not yet looked upon as an art, with laws as exact, and as clearly 
defined, for instance, as the fundamental principles of engineer¬ 
ing, which demand long and careful thought and study, but rather 
as a question of men, the old view being that if you have the 
right man the methods can be safely left to him. 

6. The following, while rather an extreme case, may still be 
looked upon as a fairly typical illustration of the unevenness of 
management. It became desirable to combine two rival manu¬ 
factories of chemicals. The great obstacle to this combination, 
however, and one which for several years had proved insurmount¬ 
able, was that the two men, each of whom occupied the position of 
owner and manager of his company, thoroughly despised one 
another. One of these men had risen to the top of his works 
through the office at the commercial end, and the other had come 
up from a workman in the factory. Each one was sure that the 
other was a fool, if not worse. When they were finally combined 
it was found that each was right in his judgment of the other in 
a certain way. A comparison of their books showed that the 
manufacturer was producing his chemicals more than forty per 
cent cheaper than his rival, while the business man made up the 
difference by insisting on maintaining the highest quality, and by 
his superiority in selling, buying, and the management of the com¬ 
mercial side of the business. A combination of the two, however, 
finally resulted in mutual respect, and saving the forty per cent, 
formerly lost by each man. 

7. The second fact that has struck the writer as most noteworthy 
is that there is no apparent relation in many, if not most cases, 
between good shop management and the success or failuic of the 
company, many unsuccessful companies having good shop man¬ 
agement while the reverse is true of many which pay large divi- 

O 

(lends. 


1312 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


8. We, however, who are primarily interested in the shop, are 
apt to forget that success, instead of hinging upon shop manage¬ 
ment depends in many cases mainly upon other elements, namely, 
—the location of the company, its financial strength and ability, 
the efficiency of its business and sales departments, its engineering 
ability, the superiority of its plant and equipment, or the protec¬ 
tion afforded either by patents, combination, location or other par¬ 
tial monopoly. 

9. And even in those cases in which the efficiency of shop man¬ 
agement might play an important part it must be remembered 
that for success no company need be better organized than its 
competitors. 

10. The most severe trial to which any system can be subjected 
is that of a business which is in keen competition over a large 
territory, and in which the labor cost of praduction forms a large 
element of the expense, and it is in such establishments that one 
would naturally expect to find the best type of management. 

11. Yet it is an interesting fact that in several of the largest and 
most important classes of industries in this country shop practice 
is still twenty to thirty years behind what might be called modern 
management. Hot only is no attempt made by them to do tonnage 
or piece work, but the oldest of old-fashioned day work is still in 
vogue in which one overworked foreman manages the men, and 
the workmen are still herded in classes, all -of those in a class 
being paid the same wages, regardless of efficiency. 

12. In these industries, however, although they are keenly com¬ 
petitive, the poor type of shop management does not interfere 
with dividends, since they are in this respect all equally bad. 

13. It would appear, therefore, that as an index to the quality 
of shop management the earning of dividends is but a poor guide. 

II. Any one who has the opportunity and takes the time to study 
the subject will see that neither good nor bad management is con¬ 
fined to any one system or type. He will find a few instances of 
good management containing all of the elements necessary for 
permanent prosperity for both employers and nlen under ordinary 
day work, the task system, piece work, contract work, the pre¬ 
mium plan, the bonus system and the differential rate; and he 
will find a very much larger number of instances of bad manage¬ 
ment under these systems containing the elements which lead to 
discord and ultimate loss and trouble for both sides. 

15. If neither the prosperity of the company nor any particular 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1343 


type or system furnishes an index to proper management, what 
then is the touchstone which indicates good or bad management ? 

16. The art of management has been defined, “ As knowing ex¬ 
actly what you want men to do, and then seeing that they do it in 
the best and cheapest way.” No concise definition can fully de¬ 
scribe an art, but the relations between employers and men form 
without question the most important part of this art. In consider¬ 
ing the subject, therefore, until this part of the problem has been 
fully discussed, the remainder of the art may be left in the back¬ 
ground. 

IT. The progress of many types of management is punctuated 
by a series of disputes, disagreements and compromises between 
employers and men, and each side spends more than a considerable 
portion of its time thinking and talking over the injustice which 
it receives at the hands of the other. All such types are out 
of the question, and need not be considered. 

18. It is safe to say that no system or scheme of management 
should be considered which does not in the long run give satis¬ 
faction to both employer and employee, which does not make it 
apparent that their best interests are mutual, and which does not 
bring about such thorough and hearty co-operation that they can 
pull together instead of apart. It cannot be said that this con¬ 
dition has as yet been at all generally recognized as the necessary 
foundation for good management. On the contrary, it is still 
quite generally regarded as a fact by both sides that in many of 
the most vital matters the best interests of employers are neces¬ 
sarily opposed to those of the men. In fact, the two elements 
which we will all a^ree are most wanted on the one hand by the 
men and on the other hand by the employers are generally looked 
upon as antagonistic. 

10. What the workmen want from their employers beyond any¬ 
thing else is high wages, and what employers want from their 
workmen most of all is a low labor cost of manufacture. 

20. These two conditions are not diametrically opposed to one 
another as would appear at first glance; on the contrary, they can 
be made to go together in all classes of work, without exception, 
and in the writer’s judgment the existence or absence of these 
two elements forms the best index to either good or bad manage¬ 
ment. 

21. This paper is written mainly with the object of advo¬ 
cating HIGH WAGES AND LOW LABOR COST AS THE FOUNDATION OF 


86 


1344 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


THE BEST MANAGEMENT, OF POINTING OUT THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES 
WHICH RENDER IT POSSIBLE TO MAINTAIN THESE CONDITIONS EVEN 
UNDER THE MOST TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES, AND OF INDICATING THE 
VARIOUS STEPS WHICH THE WRITER THINKS SHOULD BE TAKEN IN 
CHANGING FROM A POOR SYSTEM TO THE BETTER TYPES OF MAN 
AGEMENT. 

22. The condition of high wages and low labor cost is far from 
being accepted either by the average manager or the average 
workman as a practical working basis. It is safe to say that the 
majority of employers have a - feeling of satisfaction when their 
workmen are receiving lower wages than those of their com¬ 
petitors; and on the other hand that very many workmen would 
feel contented if they found themselves doing the same amount 
of work per day as other similar workmen do and get more 
pay for it. Yet employers and workmen should alike look upon 
both of these conditions with apprehension, as they are either of 
them sure, in the long run, to lead to trouble and loss for both 
parties. 

23. Through unusual personal influence and energy, or more 
frequently through especial conditions which are but temporary, 
such as dull times when there is a surplus of labor, a superin¬ 
tendent may succeed in getting men to work extra hard for ordin¬ 
ary wages. After the men, however, realize that this is the case 
and an opportunity comes for them to change these conditions, in 
their reaction against what they believe unjust treatment they 
are almost sure to lean so far in the other direction as to do 
an equally great injustice to their employer. 

24. On the otJier hand, the men who use the opportunity offered 
by a scarcity of labor to exact wages higher than the average of 
their class, without doing more than the average work in return, 
are merely laying up trouble for themselves in the long run. 
They grow accustomed to a high rate of living and expenditure, 
and when the inevitable turn comes and they are either thrown 
out of employment or forced to accept low wages, they are the 
losers by the whole transaction. 

25. The only condition which contains the elements of stability 
and permanent satisfaction is that in which both employer and 
employees are doing as well or better than their competitors are 
likely to do, and this in nine cases out of ten means high wages 
and low labor cost, and both parties should be equally anxious 
for these conditions to prevail. With them the employer can 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1345 


hold liis own with his competitors at all times and secure sufficient 
work to keep his men busy even in dull times. Without them 
both parties may do well enough in busy times, but both parties 
are likely to suffer when work becomes scarce. 

26. The possibility of coupling high v T ages with a low labor cost 
rests mainly upon the enormous difference between the amount 
of work which a first-class man can do under favorable circum¬ 
stances and the work which is actually done by the average man. 

27. That there is a difference between the average and the first- 
class man is known to all employers, but that the first-class 
man can do in most cases from two to four times as much as is 
done on an average is known to but few, and is fully realized 
only by those who have made a thorough and scientific study of 
the possibilities of men. 

28. The writer has found this enormous difference between the 
first-class and average man to exist in all of the trades and 
branches of labor which he has investigated, and this covers a 
large field, as he, together with several of his friends, have been 
engaged with more than usual opportunities for twenty years 
past in carefully and systematically studying this subject. 

20. This fact is as little realized by the workmen themselves as 
by their employers. The first-class men know that they can 
do more work than the average, but they have rarely made any 
careful study of the matter. And the writer has over and over 
again found them utterly incredulous when he informed them, 
after close observation and studv, how much they were able to 
do. In fact, in most cases when first told that they are able to 
do two or three times as much as they have done they take it as 
a joke and will not believe that one is in earnest. 

30. It must be distinctly understood that in referring to the 
possibilities of a first-class man the writer does not mean what he 
can do when on a spurt or when he is over-exerting himself, but 
what a good man can keep up for a long term of years without 
injury to his health, and become happier and thrive under. 

31. The second and equally interesting fact upon which the pos¬ 
sibility of coupling high wages with low labor cost rests, is that 
first-class men are not only willing but glad to work at their 
maximum speed, providing they are paid from 30 to 100 per cent, 
more than the average of their trade. 

32. The exact percentage by which the wages must be increased 
in order to make them work to their maximum is not a subject to 


1346 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


be theorized over, settled by boards of directors sitting in solemn 
conclave, nor voted upon by trades unions. It is a fact inherent 
in human nature and has only been determined through the slow 
and difficult process of trial and error. 

33. The writer has found, for example, after making many mis¬ 
takes above and below the proper mark, that to get the maximum 
output for ordinary shop work requiring neither especial brains, 
very close application, skill, nor extra hard work, such, for in¬ 
stance, as the more ordinary kinds of routine machine shop work, 
it is necessary to pay about 30 per cent, more than the average. 
For ordinary day labor requiring little brains or special skill, 
but calling for strength, severe bodily exertion and fatigue, it is 
necessary to pay from 50 per cent, to 60 per cent, above the 
average. For work requiring especial skill or brains, coupled 
with close application but without severe bodily exertion, such 
as the more difficult and delicate machinist’s work, from 70 per 
cent, to 80 per cent, beyond the average. And for work requir¬ 
ing skill, brains, close application, strength and severe bodily 
exertion, such, for instance, as that involved in running a well 
run steam hammer doing miscellaneous work, from 80 per cent, 
to 100 per cent, beyond the average. 

34. There are plenty of good men ready to do their best for the 
above percentages of increase, but if the endeavor is made to get 
the right men to work at this maximum for less than the above 
increase, it will be found that most of them will prefer their old 
rate of speed with the lower pay. After trying the high speed 
piece work for a while they will one after another throw up their 
jobs and return to the old day work conditions. Men will not 
work at their best unless assured a good liberal increase, which 
must be permanent. 

35. It is the writer’s judgment, on the other hand, that for their 
own good it is as important that workmen should not be very 
much over-paid, as it is that they should not be under-paid. If 
over-paid, many will work irregularly and tend to become more 
or less shiftless, extravagant and dissipated. It does not do for 
most men to get rich too fast. The writer’s observation, however, 
would lead him to the conclusion that most men tend to become 
more instead of less thrifty when they receive the proper increase 
for an extra hard day’s work, as, for example, the percentages of 
increase referred to above. They live rather better, begin to 
save money, become more sober, and work more steadily. And 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1347 


this certainly forms one of the strongest reasons for advocating 
this type of management. 

3G. In referring to high wages and low labor cost as funda¬ 
mental in good management, the writer is most desirous not to be 
misunderstood. 

37. By high wages he means wages which are high only with 
relation to the average of the class to which the man belongs and 
which are paid only to those who do much more or better work 
than the average of their class. He would not for an instant advo¬ 
cate the use of a high-priced tradesman to do the work which could 
be done by a trained laborer or a lower-priced man. Ho one would 
think of using a fine trotter to draw a grocery wagon nor a Per- 
cheron to do the work of a little mule. Ho more should a 
mechanic be allowed to do work for which a trained laborer can 
be used, and the writer goes so far as to say that almost any job 
that is repeated over and over again, however great skill and 
dexterity it may require, providing there is enough of it to 
occupy a man throughout a considerable part of the year, should 
be done bv a trained laborer and not bv a mechanic. A man 

t J o 

with only the intelligence of an average laborer can be taught to 
do the most difficult and delicate work if it is repeated enough 
times; and his lower mental calibre renders him more fit than the 
mechanic to stand the monotony of repetition. ^ It’ would seem 
to be the duty of employers, therefore, both in their own interest 
and that of their employees to see that each workman is given 
as far as possible the highest class of work for which his brains 
and physique fit him. A man, however, whose mental calibre 
and education do not fit him to become a good mechanic (and 
that grade of man is the one referred to as belonging to the 
“ laboring class ”), when he is trained to do some few especial 
jobs, which were formerly done by mechanics, should not expect 
to be paid the wages of a mechanic. He should get more than 
the average laborer, but less than a mechanic; thus insuring high 
wages to the workman, and low labor cost to the employer, and 
in this way making it most apparent to both that their interests 
are mutual. 

38. To summarize, then, what should be aimed at in all estab¬ 
lishments is: 

1. That each workman should be given as far as possible the 
highest grade of work for which his ability and physique fit him. 

2. Each workman should be called upon to turn out the maxi- 





1348 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


mum work which a first-rate man of his class can do and thrive 
under. 

3. Each workman, when lie works at the best pace of a first- 
class man, should be paid from 30 per cent, to 100 per cent., 
according to the nature of the work which he does, beyond the 
average of his class. 

39. And this means high wages and a low labor cost. These con¬ 
ditions not only serve the best interests of the employer, but they 
tend to raise each workman to the highest level which he is fitted 
to attain by making him use his best faculties, forcing him to 
become and remain ambitious and energetic, and giving him suf¬ 
ficient pay to live better than in the past. 

40. Under them the writer has seen many first-class men devel¬ 
oped who otherwise would have remained second or third class all 
of their lives. 

41. Is. not the presence or absence of these conditions the best 
indication that any svstem of management is either well or badlv 
applied ? And in considering the relative merits of different types 
of management, is not that system the best which will establish 
these conditions with the greatest certainty, precision and speed ? 

42. In comparing the management of manufacturing and engi¬ 
neering companies by this standard,- it is surprising to see how 
far they fall short. Few of those which are best organized have 
attained even approximately the maximum output of first-class 
men. 

43. Many of them are paying much higher prices per piece than 
are required to secure the maximum product; while owing to a 
bad system, lack of exact knowledge of the time required to do 
work, and mutual suspicion and misunderstanding between em¬ 
ployers and men, the output per man is so small that the men re¬ 
ceive little if any more than average wages, both sides being evi¬ 
dently the losers thereby. 

44. The chief causes which produce this loss to both parties 
are: First, and by far the most important: The profound igno¬ 
rance of employers and their foremen as to' the time in which 
various kinds of work should be done (and this ignorance is shared 
largely by the workmen). 

Second: Their indifference and ignorance as to the proper 
system to adopt and the method of applying it, and a's to the 
individual character, worth, and welfare, of their men. 

45. On the part of the men the greatest obstacle to the attain- 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1349 


ment of this standard is the slow pace which they adopt, or the 
loafing, soldiering or marking time, as it is called. 

46. This loafing or soldiering proceeds from two causes. First, 
from the natural instinct and tendency of men to take it easy, 
which may be called natural soldiering. Second, from more 
intricate second thought, and reasoning caused by their relations 
with other men, which may be called systematic soldiering. 

47. There is no question that the tendency of the average man 
(in all walks of life) is toward working at a slow, easy gait, and 
that it is only after a good deal of thought and observation on 
his part or as a result of example, * conscience, or external pres¬ 
sure that he takes a more rapid pace. 

48. There are, of course, men of unusual energy, vitality and 
ambition who naturally choose the fastest gait, set up their own 
standards, and who will work hard, even though it may be against 
their best interests. But these few uncommon men only serve 
by forming a contrast to emphasize the tendency of the average. 

49. This common tendency to “ take it easy ” is greatly in- , 
creased by bringing a number of men together on similar work 
and at a uniform standard rate of pay by the day. 

50. Under this plan the better men gradually but surely slow 
down their gait to that of the poorest and least efficient. When a 
naturally energetic man works for a few days beside a lazy one, 
the logic of the situation is unanswerable. “ Why should T work 
hard when that lazy fellow'gets the same pay that I do and does 
only half’as much work?” 

51. A careful time study of men working under these condi¬ 
tions will disclose facts which are ludicrous as well as pitiable. 

52. To illustrate: The writer has timed a naturally energetic 
workman who, while going and coming from work, would walk at 
a speed of from three to four miles per hour, and not infrequently 
trot home after a day’s work. On arriving at his work he 
would immediately slow down to a speed of about one mile an 
hour. When, for example, wheeling a loaded wheelbarrow, he 
would go at a good fast pace even up hill in order to be as short 
a time as possible under load, and immediately on the return walk 
slow down to a mile an hour, improving every opportunity for 
delay short of actually sitting down. In order to be sure not to 
do more than his lazy neighbor, he would actually tire himself in 
his effort to go slow. 

53. These men were working under a foreman of good reputa- 


1350 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


tion and highly thought of by his employer, who, when his atten¬ 
tion was called to this state of things, answered: “ Well, I can 
keep them from sitting down but the devil can’t make them get 
a move on while they are at work.” 

54. The natural laziness of men is serious, but by far the great¬ 
est evil from which both workmen and employers are suffering is 
the systematic soldiering which is almost universal under all of 
the ordinary schemes of management and which results from a 
careful study on the part of the workmen of what will promote 
their best interests. 

55. The writer was much interested recently in hearing one 
small but experienced golf caddy boy of twelve explaining to a 
green caddy who had shown special energy and interest, the neces¬ 
sity of going slow and lagging behind his man when he came up to 
the ball, showing him that since they were paid by the hour, the 
faster they went the less money they got, and finally telling him 
that if he went too fast the other boys would give him a licking. 

56. This represents a type of systematic soldiering which is not, 
however, very serious, sinre it is done with the knowledge of the 
employer, who can quite easily break it up if he wishes. 

57. The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is 
done by the men with the deliberate object of keeping their em¬ 
ployers ignorant of how fast work can be done. 

58. So universal is soldiering for this purpose, that hardly a 
competent workman can be found in a large establishment, 
whether he works by the day or on piece work, contract work or 
under any of the ordinary systems, who does not devote a consider¬ 
able part of his time to studying just how slow he can work and 
still convince his employer that he is going at a good pace. 

59. The causes for this are, briefly, that practically all employ¬ 
ers determine upon a maximum sum which they feel it is right for 
each of their classes of employees to earn per day, whether their 
men work by the day or piece. 

60. Each workman soon finds out about what this figure is for 
his particular case, and he also realizes that when his employer is 
convinced that a man is capable of doing more work than he has 
done, he will find sooner or later some way of compelling him to 
do it with little or no increase of pay. 

61. Employers derive their knowledge of how much of a <riven 
class of work can be done in a day from either their own experi¬ 
ence, which has frequently grown hazy with age, from casual and 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1351 


unsystematic observation of their men, or at best from records 
which are kept, showing the quickest time in which each job has 
been done. In many cases the employer will feel almost certain 
that a given job can be done faster than it has been, but he rarely 
cares to take the drastic measures necessary to force men to do 
it in the quickest time, unless he has an actual record proving con¬ 
clusively how fast the work can be done. 

62. It evidently becomes for each man’s interest, then, to see 
that no job is done faster than it has been in the past. The 
younger and less experienced men are taught this by their elders, 
and all possible persuasion and social pressure is brought to bear 
upon the greedy and selfish men to keep them from making new 
records which result in temporarily increasing their wages, while 
all those who come after them are made to work harder for the 
same old pay. 

63. Under the best day work of the ordinary type, when accu¬ 
rate records are kept of the amount of work done by each man and 
of his efficiency, and when each man’s wages are raised as he im¬ 
proves, and those who fail to rise to a certain standard are dis¬ 
charged and a fresh supply of carefully selected men are given 
work in their places, both the natural loafing and systematic 
soldiering can be largely broken up. This can only be done, how¬ 
ever, when the men are thoroughly convinced that there is no 
intention of establishing piece work even in the remote future, 
and it is next to impossible to make men believe this when the 
work is of such a nature that they believe piece work to be practi¬ 
cable. ' In most cases their fear of making a record which will be 
used as a basis for piece work will cause them to soldier as much 
as thev dare. 

64. It is, however, under piece work that the art of systematic 
soldiering is thoroughly developed; after a workman has had the 
price per piece of the work he is doing lowered two or three times 
as a result of his having worked harder and increased his output, 
he is likely to entirely lose sight of his employer’s side of the case 
and become imbued with a grim determination to have no more 
cuts if soldiering can prevent it. Unfortunately for the char¬ 
acter of the workman, soldiering involves a deliberate attempt to 
mislead and deceive his employer, and thus upright and straight¬ 
forward workmen are compelled to become more or less hypo¬ 
critical. The employer is socn looked upon as an antagonist, if 
not an enemy, and the mutual confidence which should exist 


1352 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


between a leader and his men, the enthusiasm, the feeling that 
they are all working for the same end and will share in the 
results, is entirely lacking. 

65. The feeling of antagonism under the ordinary piece work 
system becomes in many cases so marked on the part of the men, 
that any proposition made by their employers, however reasonable, 
is looked upon with suspicion, and soldiering becomes such a fixed 
habit that men will frequently take pains to restrict the product 
of machines which they are running when even a large increase 
in output would involve no more work on their part. 

66. On work which is repeated over and over again and the vol¬ 
ume of which is sufficient to permit it, the plan of making a con¬ 
tract with a competent workman to do a certain class of work and 
allowing him to employ his own men subject to strict limitations, 
is successful. 

67. As a rule, the fewer the men employed by the contractor 
and the smaller the variety of the work, the greater will be the 
success under the contract system, the reason for this being that 
the contractor, under the spur of financial necessity, makes person¬ 
ally so close a study of the quickest time in which the work can 
be done, that soldiering on the part of his men becomes difficult 
and the best of them teach laborers or lower-priced helpers to do 
the work formerly done by mechanics. 

68. The objections to the contract system are that the machine 
tools used by the contractor are apt to deteriorate rapidly, his 
chief interest being to get a large output, whether the tools are 
properly cared for or not, and that through the ignorance and 
inexperience of the contractor in handling men, his employees 
are frequently unjustly treated. 

69. These disadvantages are, however, more than counterbal¬ 
anced by the comparative absence of soldiering on the part of the 
men. 

70. The greatest objection to this system is the soldiering which 
the contractor himself does in many cases, so as to secure a good 
price for his next contract. 

71. It is not at all unusual for a contractor to restrict the output 
of his own men and to refuse to adopt improvements in machines, 
appliances, or methods while in the midst of a contract, knowing 
that his next contract price will be lowered in direct proportion 
to the profits which he has made and the improvements intro¬ 
duced. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1353 


72. Under the contract system, however, the relations between 
employers and men are much more agreeable and normal than 
under piece work, and it is to be regretted that owing to the 
nature of the work done in most shops this system is not more 
generally applicable. 

The writer quotes as follows from his paper on “ A Piece Kate 
System ”: 

73. “ Cooperation, or profit sharing, has entered the mind of 
every student of the subject as one of the possible and most at¬ 
tractive solutions of the problem; and there have been certain 
instances, both in England- and France, of at least a partial suc¬ 
cess of cooperative experiments. 

74. So far as I know, however, these trials have been made 
either in small towns, remote from the manufacturing centres, or 
in industries which in many respects are not subject to ordinary 
manufacturing conditions. 

75. Cooperative experiments have failed, and, I think, are 
generally destined to fail, for several reasons, the first and most 
important of which is, that no form of cooperation has yet been 
devised in which each individual is allowed free scope for his per¬ 
sonal ambition. Personal ambition always has been and will re¬ 
main a more powerful incentive to exertion than a desire for the 
general welfare. The few misplaced drones, who do the loafing 
and share equally in the profits with the rest, under cooperation 
are sure to drag the better men down toward their level. 

76. The second and almost equally strong reason for failure 
lies in the remoteness of the reward. The average workman (I 
don’t say all men) cannot look forward to a profit which is six 
months or a year away. The nice time which they are sure to 
have to-day, if they take things easily, proves more attractive than 
hard work, with a possible reward to be shared with others six 
months later. 

77. Other and formidable difficulties in the path of coop¬ 
eration are, the equitable division of the profits, and the fact that, 
while workmen are always ready to share the profits, they are 
neither able nor willing to share the losses. Further than this, 
in many cases, it is neither right nor just that they should share 
either in the profits or the losses, since these may be due in great 
part to causes entirely beyond their influence or control, and to 
which they do not contribute.” 

78. Of all the ordinary systems of management in use (in which 


1354 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


no accurate scientific study of the time problem is undertaken, 
and no carefully measured tasks are assigned to the men which 
must be accomplished in a given time), the best is the plan funda¬ 
mentally originated by Mr. Henry R. Towne, and improved and 
made practical by Mr. F. A. Halsey. This plan is described in 
papers read by Mr. Towne before this Society in 1886, and by 
Mr. Halsey in 1891, and has since been criticised and ably de¬ 
fended in a series of articles appearing in the American Ma¬ 
chinist. 

79. The Towne-IIalsey plan consists in recording the quickest 
time in which a job has been done, and fixing this as a standard. 
If the workman succeeds in doing the job in a shorter time, he i* 
still paid his same wages per hour for the time he works on the job, 
and in addition is given a premium for having worked faster, con¬ 
sisting of from one-quarter to one-half the difference between the 
wages earned and the wages originally paid when the job was 
done in standard time. Mr. Halsey recommends the payment of 
one-third of the difference as the best premium for most cases. 
The difference between this system and ordinary piece work is 
that the workman on piece work gets the whole of the difference 
between the actual time of a job and the standard time, while 
under the Towne-IIalsey plan he gets only a fraction of this 
difference. 

80. It is not unusual to hear the Towne-IIalsey plan referred to 
as practically the same as piece work. This is far from the 
truth, for while the difference between the two does not appear 
to a casual observer to be great, and the general principles of 
the two seem to be the same, still we all know that success or 
failure in many cases hinges upon small differences. 

81. In the writer’s judgment, the Towne-Halsey plan is a great 
invention, and, like many other great inventions, its value lies in 
its simplicity. 

82. This plan has already been successfully adopted by a large 
number of establishments, and has resulted in giving higher 
wages to many workmen, accompanied by a lower labor cost to 
the employer, and at the same time materially improving their 
relations by lessening the feeling of antagonism between the 
two. 

83. This system is successful because it diminishes soldiering, 
and this rests entirely upon the fact that since the workman only 
receives say one-third of the increase in pay that he would get 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1355 


under corresponding conditions on piece work, there is not the 
same temptation for the employer to cut prices. 

84. After this system has been in operation for a year or two, if 
no cuts in prices have been made, the tendency of the men to sol¬ 
dier on that portion of the work which is being done under the 
system is diminished, although it does not entirely cease. On the 
other hand, the tendency of the men to soldier on new work which 
is started, and on such portions as are still done on day work, is 
even greater under the Towne-Halsey plan than under piece work. 

85. To illustrate: Workmen, like the rest of mankind, are more 
strongly influenced by object lessons than by theories. The effect 
on men of such an object lesson as the following will be apparent. 
Suppose that two men are at work by the day and receive the 
same pay, say 20 cents per hour; Smart and Honest. Each of 
these men is given a new piece of work which could be done in 
one hour. Smart does his job in four hours (and it is by no means 
unusual for men to soldier to this extent). Honest does his in one 
and one-half hours. 

86. How, when these two jobs start on this basis under the 
Towne-Halsey plan and are ultimately done in one hour each, 
Smart receives for his job 20 cents per hour + a premium of 
00 

— — 20 cents = a total of b0 cents. Honest receives for his job 

O 

20 cents per hour + a premium of ^ cents = a total of 
cents. 

87. Most of the men in the shop will follow the example of 
Smart rather than that of Honest and will “ soldier ” to the extent 
of three or four hundred per cent, if allowed to do so. 

88. The Towne-Halsey system shares with ordinary piece work 
then, the greatest evil of the latter, namely, that its very founda¬ 
tion rests upon deceit, and under both of these systems there is 
necessarily, as we have seen, a great lack of justice and equality 
in the starting-point of different jobs. 

89. Some of the rates will have resulted from records obtained 
when a first-class man was working close to his maximum speed, 
while others will be based on the performance of a poor man at 
one-third or one-quarter speed. 

90. The injustice of the very foundation of the system is thus 
forced upon the workman every day of his life, and no man, how¬ 
ever kindly disposed he may be toward his employer, can fail to 


1356 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


resent this and be seriously influenced by it in his work. These 
systems are, therefore, of necessity slow and irregular in their 
operation in reducing costs. They drift gradually toward an in¬ 
creased output, but under them the attainment of the maximum 
output of a first-class man is almost impossible. 

91. The writer has seen many jobs successfully nursed in sev¬ 
eral of our large and well managed establishments under these 
drifting systems, for a term of ten to fifteen years, at from one- 
third to one-quarter speed. The workmen, in the meanwhile, ap¬ 
parently enjoyed the confidence of their employers, and in many 
cases the employers not only suspected the deceit, but felt quite 
sure of it. 

92. The great defect, then, common to all the ordinary systems 
of management (including the Towne-Halsey system, the best 
of this class), is that their starting-point, their very foundation, 
rests upon ignorance and deceit, and that throughout their whole 
course in the one element which is most vital both to employer 
and workmen, namely, the speed at which work is done, they 
are allowed to drift instead of being intelligently directed and 
controlled. 

93. The writer has found, through an experience of twenty 
years, covering a large variety in manufactures, as well as in the 
building trades, structural and engineering work, that it is not only 
practicable but comparatively easy to obtain through a system¬ 
atic and scientific time study, exact information as to how much 
of any given kind of work either a first-class or an average man 
can do in a day, and with this information as a foundation, he has 
over and over again seen the fact demonstrated that workmen of 
all classes are not only willing, but glad to give up all idea of sol¬ 
diering, and devote all of their energies to turning out the maxi¬ 
mum work possible, providing they are sure of a suitable per¬ 
manent reward. 

94. With accurate time knowledge as a basis, surprisingly large 
results can be obtained under any scheme of management from 
day work up; there is no question that even ordinary day work 
resting upon this foundation will give greater satisfaction than 
any of the systems in common use, standing as they do upon 
soldiering as a basis. 

95. To many of the readers of this paper both the fundamental 
objects to be aimed at, namely, high wages with low labor cost, 
and the means advocated by the writer for attaining this end; 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1357 


namely, accurate time study, will appear so theoretical and so far 
outside of the range of their personal observation and experience 
that it would seem desirable, before proceeding farther, to give a 
brief illustration of what has been accomplished in this line. 

96. The writer chooses from among a large variety of trades to 
which these principles have been applied, the yard labor handling 
raw materials in the works of the Bethlehem Steel Company at 
South Bethlehem, Pa., not because the results attained there have 
been greater than in many other instances, but because the case is 
so elementary that the results are evidently due to no other 
cause than thorough time study as a basis, followed by the appli¬ 
cation of a few simple principles with which all of us are familiar. 

97. In almost all of the other more complicated cases the large 
increase in output is due partly to the actual physical changes, 
either in the machines or small tools and appliances, which a pre¬ 
liminary time study almost always shows to be necessary, so that 
for purposes of illustration the simple case chosen is the better, 
although the gain made in the more complicated cases is none 
the less legitimately due to the system. 

98. Bp to the spring of the year 1899, all of the materials in 
the yard of the Bethlehem Steel Company had been handled by 
gangs of men working by the day, and under the foremanship of 
men who had themselves formerly worked at similar work as 
laborers. Their management was about as good as the average 
of similar work, although it was had, all of the men being paid 
the ruling wages of laborers in this section of the country, 
namely, $1.15 per day, the only, means of encouraging or dis¬ 
ciplining them being either talking to them or discharging them; 
occasionally, however, a man was selected from among these men 
and given a better class of work with slightly higher wages in 
some of the companies’ shops, and this had the elfect of slightly 
stimulating them. From four to six hundred men were em¬ 
ployed on this class of work throughout the year. 

99. The work of these men consisted mainly of unloading from 
railway cars and shovelling on to piles, and from these piles again 
loading as required, the raw materials used in running three 
blast furnaces and seven large open-hearth furnaces, such as ore 
of various kinds, varying from fine, gravelly ore to that which 
comes in large lumps, coke, limestone, special pig, sand, etc., un¬ 
loading hard and soft coal for boilers, gas-producers, etc., and 
also for storage and again loading the stored ,Coal as required 


1358 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


for use, loading the pig iron produced at the furnaces for ship¬ 
ment, for storage, and for local use, and handling billets, etc., 
produced by the rolling mills. The work covered a large variety 
as laboring work goes, and it was not usual that a man was 
kept continuously at the same class of work. 

100. Before undertaking the management of these men, the 
writer was informed that they were steady workers, but slow and 
phlegmatic, and that nothing would induce them to work fast. 

101. ITis first step was to place an intelligent, college-educated 
man in charge of progress in this line. This man had not before 
handled this class of labor, although he understood managing 
workmen. He was not familiar with the methods pursued by 
the writer, but was soon taught the art of determining how much 
work a first-class man can do in a day. This was done by timing 
with a stop watch a first-class man while he was working fast. 
The best way to do this, in fact almost the only way in which the 
timing can be done with certainty, is to divide the man’s work into 
its elements and time each element separately. For example, in 
the case of a man loading pig iron on to a car, the elements should 
be: Picking up the pig from the ground or pile (time in hun¬ 
dredths of a minute). Walking with it on a level (time per foot 
walked). Walking with it up an incline to*car (time per foot 
walked). Throwing the pig down (time in hundredths of a 
minute), or laying it on a pile (time in hundredths of a minute). 
Walking back empty to get a load (time per foot walked). 

102. In case of important elements which were to enter into a 
number of rates, a large number of observations were taken when 
practicable on different first-class men, and at different times, and 
they were averaged. 

103. The most difficult elements to time and decide upon in this, 
as in most cases, are the percentage of the day required for rest, 
and the time to allow for accidental or unavoidable delavs. 

101. In the case of the yard labor at Bethlehem, each class of 
work was studied as above, each element being timed separately, 
and in addition, a record was kept in many cases of the total 
amount of work done by the man in a day. The record of the 
gross work of the man (who is being timed) is, in most cases, not 
necessary after the observer is skilled in his work. As the Bethle¬ 
hem time observer was new to this work, the gross time was useful 
in checking his detailed observations and so gradually educating 
him and giving him confidence in the new methods. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1359 


105. The writer had so many other duties that his personal help 
was confined to teaching the proper methods and approving the de¬ 
tails of the various changes which were in all cases outlined in 
written reports before being carried out. 

106. As soon as a careful study had been made of the time ele- 
ments entering into one class of work, a single first-class workman 
was picked out and started on ordinary piece work on this job. 
His task required him to do between three and one-half and four 
times as much work in a day as had been done in the past on an 
average. 

107. Between twelve and thirteen tons of pig iron per man had 
been carried from a pile on the ground, up an inclined plank, 
and loaded on to a gondola car by the average pig iron handler 
while working by the day. The men in doing this work had 
worked in gangs of from five to twenty men. 

108. The man selected from one of these gangs to make the first 
start under the writer's system was called upon to load on piece¬ 
work from forty-five to forty-eight tons (2,240 lbs. each) per 
day. 

109. He regarded this task as an entirely fair one, and earned on 
an average, from the start, $1.85 per day, which was 60 per cent, 
more than he had been paid by the day. This man happened to 
be considerably lighter than the average good workman at this 
class of work. He weighed about 130 pounds. He proved, 
however, to be especially well suited to this job, and was kept at 
it steadily throughout the time that the writer was in Bethlehem, 
and I believe is still at the same work. 

110. Being the first piece work started in the works, it excited 
considerable opposition, both on the part of the workmen and of 
several of the leading men in the town, their opposition being- 
based mainly on the old fallacy that if piece work proved success¬ 
ful a great many men would be thrown out of work, and that 
thereby not only the workmen but the whole town would suffer. 

111. One after another of the new men who were started singly 
on this job were either persuaded or intimidated into giving it up. 
In many cases they were given other work by those interested in 
preventing piece work, at wages higher than the ruling wages. 
In the meantime, however, the first man who started on the work 
earned steadily $1.85 per day, and this object lesson gradually 
wore out the concerted opposition, which ceased rather suddenly 
after about two and one-half months. From this time on there 

87 


1360 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


was no difficulty in getting plenty of good men who were anxious 
to start on piece work, and the difficulty lay in making with 
sufficient rapidity the accurate time study of the elements or 
“ unit times ” which forms the foundation of this kind of piece 
work. 

112. Throughout the introduction of piece work, when after a 
thorough time study a new section of the work was started, one 
man only was put on each new job, and not more than one man 
was allowed to work at it until he had demonstrated that the task 
set was a fair one by earning an average of $1.85 per day. After 
a few sections of the work had been started in this way, the com¬ 
plaint on the part of the better workmen was that they were not 
allowed to go on to piece work fast enough. 

113. It required about two years to transfer practically all of 
the yard labor from day to piece work. And the larger part of 
the transfer was made during the last six months of this time. 

114. As stated above, the greater part of the time was taken up 
in studying “ unit times/’ and this time study was greatly de¬ 
layed by having successively the two leading men who had been 
trained to the work leave because they were offered much larger 
salaries elsewhere. The study of “ unit times ” for the yard 
labor took practically the time of two trained men for two years. 
Throughout this time the day and piece workers were under 
entirely separate and distinct management. The original fore¬ 
men continued to manage the day work, and day and piece 
workers were never allowed to work together. Gradually the 
day work gang was diminished and the piece workers were in¬ 
creased as one section of work after another was transformed 
from the former to the latter. 

115. Two elements which were important to the success of this 
work should be noted: 

lie. First, on the morning following each day’s work, each 
workman was given a slip of paper informing him in detail just 
how much work he had done the day before; and the amount he 
had earned. .Thus enabling him to measure his performance 
against his earnings while the details were fresh in his mind. 

117. Without this there would have been great dissatisfaction 
among those who failed to climb up to the task asked of them, 
and many would have gradually fallen off in their performance. 

118. Second, whenever it was practicable, each man’s work was 
measured by itself. Only when absolutely necessary was the 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1361 


work of two men measured up together and the price divided be¬ 
tween them, and then care was taken to select two men of as 
nearly as possible the same capacity. 

119. Only on few occasions, and then upon special permission 
signed by the writer, were more than two men allowed to work on 
gang work, dividing their earnings between them. 

120. Gang work almost invariably results in a falling off in 
earnings and consequent dissatisfaction. 

121. An interesting illustration of the desirability of individual 
piece work instead of gang work came to our attention at Bethle¬ 
hem. Several of the best piece workers among the Bethlehem 
yard laborers were informed by their friends that a much higher 
price per ton was paid for shovelling ore in another works than 
the rate given at Bethlehem. After talking the matter over with 
the writer he advised them to go to the other works, which they 
accordingly did. 

122. In about a month they were all back at work in Bethlehem 
again, having found that at the other works they were obliged to 
work with a gang of men instead of on individual piece work, 
and that the rest of the gang worked so slowly that in spite of 
the high price paid per ton they earned much less than at 
Bethlehem. 

123. The table on next page gives a summary of the work done 
by the piece work laborers in handling raw materials, such as ores, 
anthracite and bituminous coal, coke, pig iron, sand, limestone, 
cinder, scale, ashes, etc., in the works of the Bethlehem Steel 
Company, during the year ending April 30, 1901. This work 
consisted mainly in loading and unloading cars on arrival or 
departure from the works, and for local transportation, and was 
done entirely by hand, i.e., without the use of cranes or other 
machinery. 

124. The greater part of the credit for making the accurate 
time study and actually managing the men on this work, should be 
given to Mr. A. B. Wadleigh, the writer’s assistant in this sec¬ 
tion at that time. 

125. When the writer left the steel works, the Bethlehem piece 
workers were the finest body of picked laborers that he has ever 
seen together. They were practically all first-class men because 
in each case the task which they were called upon to perform 
was such that only a first-class man could do it. The tasks were 
all purposely made so severe that not more than one out of five 


1362 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 



Piece Work. 

Day Work. 

Number of tons (2,240 lbs. per ton) handled on piece 
work during the year ending April 30, 1901. 

924,040,% 


Total cost of handling 924,040-, i o il o tons including the 
piece work wages paid the men, and in addition all 
incidental day labor used. 

$30,797.78 


Former cost of handling the same number of tons of 
similar materials on day work. 

Net saying in handling 924,040i L () 3 o tons of materials, 
effected in one year through substituting piece work 
for day work. 

$30,417.69 

$67,215.47 

Average cost for handling a ton (2,240 lbs.) on piece 
and day work. 

$0,033 

$0,072 

Average earnings per day, per man. . 

* $1.88 

$1.15 

Average number cf tons handled per day per man .... 

57 

16 


The piece workers handled on an average 3^- times as many tons per man per 
day as the day workers. 


* It was our intention to fix piece work rates which should enable first-class workmen to average 
about 60 per cent, more than they had been earning on day work, namely §1.85 per day. A year’s 
average shows them to have earned $1.88 per day, or three cents per man per day more than we 
expected. An error of 1 T 6 5 per cent. 


laborers (perhaps even a smaller percentage than this) could keep 
up. 

126. It was clearly understood by each newcomer as he went to 
work that unless he was able to average at least $1.85 per day 
he would have to make way for another man who could do so. 
As a result, first-class men from all over that part of the 
country, who were in most cases earning from $1.05 to $1.15 per 
day, were anxious to try their hands at earning $1.85 per day. 
If they succeeded they were naturally contented, and if they 
failed they left, sorry that they were unable to maintain the 
proper pace, but with no hard feelings either toward the system 
or the management. Throughout the time that the writer was 
there, labor was as scarce and as difficult to get as it ever has 
been in the history of this country, and yet there was always a 
surplus of first-class men ready to leave other jobs and try their 
hand at Bethlehem piece work. 

1- t • Perhaps the most notable difference between these men 
and ordinary piece workers lay in their changed mental attitude 
toward their employers and their work, and in the total absence 


















SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1368 


of soldiering on their part. The ordinary piece worker would 
have spent a considerable part of his time in deciding just how 
much his employer would allow him to earn without cutting 
prices and in then trying to come as close as possible to this 
figure, while carefully guarding each job so as to keep the man¬ 
agement from finding out how fast it really could be done. These 
men, however, w T ere faced with a new but very simple and 
straightforward proposition, namely, am I a first-class laborer or 
not? Each man felt that if he belonged in the first class all he 
had to do was to work at his best and he would be paid sixty per 
cent, more than he had been paid in the past. Each new piece 
work price was accepted by the men without question. They 
never bargained over nor complained about rates, and there was 
no occasion to do so, since they were all equally fair, and called 
for almost exactly the same amount of work and fatigue per 
dollar of wages. 

128. A careful inquiry into the condition of these men when 
away from work developed the fact that out of the whole gang, 
only two were said to be drinking men. This does not, of course, 
imply that many of them did not take an occasional drink. The 
fact is that a steady drinker would find it almost impossible to 
keep up with the pace which was set, so that they were practically 
all sober. Many if not most of them were saving money, and 
they all lived better than they had before. The results attained 
under this system were most satisfactory both to employer and 
workmen, and show in a convincing way the possibility of uniting 
high wages with a low labor cost. 

129. This is virtually a labor union of first-class men, who are 
united together to secure the extra high wages, which belong to 
them by right and which in this case are begrudged them by none, 
and which will be theirs through dull times as well as periods of 
activity. Such a union commands the unqualified admiration 
and respect of all classes of the community; the respect equally 
of workmen, employers, political economists, and philanthropists. 
There are no dues for membership, since all of the expenses are 
paid by the company. The employers act as the officers of the 
Union, to enforce its rules and keep its records, since the inter¬ 
ests of the company are identical and bound up with those of 
the men. It is never necessary to plead with, or persuade men 
to join this Union, since the employers themselves organize it free 
of cost; the best workmen in the community are always anxious 


1364 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


to belong to it. The feature most to be regretted about it is that 
the membership is limited. 

130. The words “ labor union ” are, however, unfortunately so 
closely associated in the minds of most people with the idea of 
disagreement and strife between the employers and men, that it 
seems almost incongruous to apply them to this case. 

131. Is not this, however, the ideal “ labor union/’ with char¬ 
acter and special ability of a high order as the only qualifications 
for membership. 

132. It is a curious fact that with the people to whom the 
writer has described this system, the first feeling, particularly 
among those more philanthropicallv inclined, is one of pity for 
the inferior workmen who lost their jobs in order to make way 
for the first-class men. This sympathy is entirely misplaced. 
There was such a demand for labor at the time, that no workman 
was obliged to be out of work for more than a day or two, and so 
the poor workmen were practically as well off as ever. The feel¬ 
ing, instead of being one of pity for the inferior workmen, should 
be one of congratulation and rejoicing that many first-class men 
—who through unfortunate circumstances had never had the 
opportunity of proving their worth—at last were given the chance 
to earn high wages and become prosperous. 

133. What the writer wishes particularly to emphasize is that 
this whole system rests upon an accurate and scientific study of 
“ unit times,” which is by far the most important element in mod¬ 
ern management. With it, greater and more permanent results 
can be attained even under ordinary day work or piece work than 
can be reached under any of the more elaborate systems without 
it. 

134. In 1895 the writer read a paper before this Society entitled 
“ A Piece Eate System.” TIis chief object in writing it was to 
advocate the study of “ unit times ” as the foundation of good 
management. Unfortunately, he at the same time described the 
“ Differential Eate ” system of piece work, which had been intro¬ 
duced by him in the Midvale Steel Works. Although he called 
attention to the fact that the latter was entirely of secondary 
importance, the differential rate was widely discussed in the 
journals of this country and abroad while practically nothing was 
said about the study of “ unit times.” Thirteen members of this 
Society discussed the piece rate system at length, and only two 
briefly referred to the study of the “ unit times.” 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1365 


135. The writer most sincerely trusts that his leading object in 
writing this paper will not be overlooked, and that scientific 
time study will receive the attention which it merits. Bearing in 
mind the Bethlehem yard labor as an illustration of the applica¬ 
tion of the study of unit times as the foundation of success in 
management, the following would seem to him a fair comparison 
of the older methods with the more modern plan: 

136. For each job there is the quickest time in which it can be 
done by a first-class man. This time may be called the “ quickest 
time,” or the “ standard time ” for the job. 

137. Under all the ordinary systems, this “ quickest time ” is 
more or less completely shrouded in mist. In most cases, how¬ 
ever, the workman is nearer to it and sees it more clearly than the 
employer. 

138. Under ordinary piecework the management watch every 
indication given them by the workmen as to what the “ quickest 
time ” is for each job, and endeavor continually to force the men 
toward this “ standard time,” while the workmen constantly use 
every effort to prevent this from being done and to lead the 
management in the wrong direction. In spite of this conflict, 
however, the “ standard time ” is gradually approached. 

130. Under the Towne-Halsey* plan the management gives up 
all direct effort to reach*this “ quickest time,” but offers mild in¬ 
ducements to the workmen to do so, and turns over the whole 
enterprise to them. The workmen, peacefully as far as the 
management is concerned but with considerable pulling and haul¬ 
ing among themselves, and without the assistance of a trained 
guiding hand, drift gradually and slowly in the direction of the 
“ standard time,” but rarely approach it closely. 

140. With accurate time study as a basis, the “ quickest time ” 
for each job is at all times in plain sight of both employers and 
workmen, and is reached with accuracy, precision and speed, both 
sides pulling hard in the same direction under the uniform simple 
and just agreement that whenever a first-class man works at his 
best he will receive from 30 to 100 per cent, more than the aver¬ 
age of his trade. 

141. Probably a majority of the attempts that are made to radi¬ 
cally change the organization of manufacturing companies result 
in a loss of money to the company, failure to bring about the 

* For further criticism of the Towne-Halsey plan, see Mr. Halsey’s re¬ 
marks at the end of the paper and the writer’s answer to same. 




1366 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


change sought for, and a return to practically the original organi¬ 
zation. The reason for this being that there are but few employ¬ 
ers who look upon management as an art, and that they go at a 
difficult task without either having understood or appreciated the 
time required for organization or its cost, the troubles to be met 
with or the obstacles to be overcome, and without having studied 
the means to be employed in doing so. 

142. Before starting to make any changes in the organization of 
a company, the following matters should be carefully considered: 
First, the importance of choosing the general type of manage¬ 
ment best suited to the particular case. Second, that in all cases 
money must be spent, and in many cases a great deal of money, 
before the changes are completed which result in lowering cost. 
Third, that it takes time to reach any result worth aiming at. 
Fourth, the importance of making changes in their proper order, 
and that unless the right steps are taken, and taken in their 
proper sequence, there is great danger from deterioration in the 
quality of the output and from serious troubles with the work¬ 
men, often resulting in strikes. 

143. As to the type of management to be ultimately aimed at, 
before any - changes whatever are made, it is necessary, or at 
least highly desirable, that the most careful consideration should 
be given to the type to be chosen; and once a scheme is decided 
upon it should be carried forward step by step without wavering 
or retrograding. Workmen will tolerate and even come to have 
great respect for one change after another made in logical 
sequence and according to a consistent plan. It is most demoral¬ 
izing, however, to have to recall a step once taken, whatever may 
be the cause, and it makes any further changes doubly difficult. 

144. The choice must be made between some of the types of 
management in common use, which the writer feels are properly 
designated by the work “ drifting/’ and the more modern and 
scientific management based on an accurate knowledge of how 
long it should take to do the work. If, as is frequently the case, 
the managers of an enterprise find themselves so overwhelmed 
with other departments of the business that they can give but 
little thought to the management of the shop, then some one of 
the various “ drifting” schemes should be adopted; and of these 
the writer believes the Towne-IIalsey plan to be the best, since 
it drifts safely and peacefully though slowly in the right direc¬ 
tion; yet under it the best results can never be reached. The 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1367 


fact, however, that managers are in this way overwhelmed by 
their work is the best proof that there is something radically 
wrong with the plan of their organization and in self defence 
they should take immediate steps toward a more thorough study 
of the art. 

145. It is not at all generally realized that whatever system may 
be used,—providing a business is complex in its nature—the build¬ 
ing up of an efficient organization is necessarily slow and some¬ 
times very expensive. Almost all of the directors of manufactur¬ 
ing companies appreciate the economy of a thoroughly modern, 
up-to-date and efficient plant and are willing to pay for it. Yerv 
few of them, however, realize that the best organization, what¬ 
ever its cost may be, is in many cases even more important than 
the plant; nor do they clearly realize that no kind of an efficient 
organizaton can be built up without spending money. The spend¬ 
ing of money for good machinery appeals to them because they 
can see machines after they are bought; but putting money into 
anything so invisible, intangible, and to the average man so in¬ 
definite, as an organization seems almost like throwing it away. 

146. There is no question that when the work to be done is at 
all complicated, a good organization with a poor plant will give 
better results than the best plant with a poor organization. One 
of the most successful manufacturers in this country was asked 
recently by a number of financiers whether he thought that 
the difference between one style of organization and another 
amounted to much providing the company had an up-to-date plant 
properly located. His answer was, “ If I had to choose now 
between abandoning my present organization and burning down 
all of my plants which have cost me millions, I should choose the 
latter. My plants could be rebuilt in a short while with borrowed 
money, but I could hardly replace my organization in a genera¬ 
tion/’ 

147. Modern engineering can almost be called an exact science; 
each year removes it further from guess work and from rule of 
thumb methods and establishes it more firmly upon the foundation 
of fixed principles. 

148. The writer feels that management is also destined to be¬ 
come more of an art, and that many of the elements which are now 
believed to be outside the field of exact knowledge will soon be 
standardized, tabulated, accepted and used, as are now the many 
elements of engineering. Management will be studied as an art 




1368 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


and will rest upon w T ell recognized, clearly defined and fixed 
principles instead of depending upon more or less hazy ideas 
received from a limited observation of the few organizations with 
which the individual may have come in contact. There will, of 
course, be various successful types, and the application of the 
underlying principles must be modified to suit each particular 
case. The writer has already indicated that he thinks the first 
object in management is to unite high wages with a low labor 
cost. He believes that this object can be most easily attained by 
the application of the following principles: 

First. —A Large Daily Task. 

149. Each man in the establishment, high or low, should daily 
have a clearly defined task laid out before him. This task should 
not in the least degree be vague nor indefinite, but should be cir¬ 
cumscribed carefully and completely, and should not be easy to 
accomplish. 

Second. —Standard C onditions. 

150. Each man’s task should call for a full day’s work, and at 
the same time the workman should be given such conditions and 
appliances as will enable him to accomplish his task with cer¬ 
tainty. 

Third. —High Pay for Success. 

151. He should be sure of large pay wdien he accomplishes his 
task. 

Fourth. —Loss in Case of Failure. 

152. When he fails he should be sure that sooner or later he 
will be the loser by it. 

153. A hen an establishment has reached an advanced state of 
organization, in many cases a fifth element should be added, 
namely: the task should be made so difficult that it can only be 
accomplished by a first-class man. 

154. There is nothing ne^v nor startling about any of these prin¬ 
ciples and yet it will be difficult to find a shop in which they are not 
daily violated over and over again. They call, however, for a 
greater departure from the ordinary types of organization than 
Avould at first appear. In the case, for instance, of a machine shop 
doing miscellaneous work, in order to assign daily to each man a 
carefully measured task, a special planning department is re- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1369 


quired to lay out all of the work at least one day ahead. All 
orders must he given to the men in detail in writing; and in order 
to lay out the next day’s work and plan the entire progress of 
work through the shop, daily returns must be made by the men 
to the planning department in writing, showing just what has 
been done. Before each casting or forging arrives in the shop 
the exact route which it is to take from machine to machine 
should be laid out. An instruction card for each operation must 
be written out stating in detail just how each operation on every 
piece of work is to be done and the time required to do it, the 
drawing number, any special tools, jigs, or appliances required, 
etc. Before the four principles above referred to can be success¬ 
fully applied it is also necessary in most shops to make important 
physical changes. All of the small details in the shop, which are 
usually regarded as of little importance and are left to be reg¬ 
ulated according to the individual taste of the workman, or, at 
best, of the foreman, must be thoroughly and carefully standard¬ 
ized; such details, for instance, as the care and tightening of the 
belts; the exact shape and quality of each cutting tool; the estab¬ 
lishment of a complete tool room from which properly ground 
tools, as well as jigs, templets, drawings, etc., are issued under a 
good check system, etc.; and as a matter of importance (in fact, 
as the foundation of modern management) an accurate study of 
“ unit times ” must be made by one or more men connected with 
the planning department, and each machine tool must be stand¬ 
ardized and a table or slide rule constructed for it showing how to 
run it to the best advantage. 

155. At first view the running of a planning department, to¬ 
gether with the other innovations, would appear to involve a large 
amount of additional work and expense,- and the most natural ques¬ 
tion would be is whether the increased efficiency of the shop more 
than offsets this outlay. It must be borne in mind, however, that, 
with the exception of the study of unit times, there is hardly a 
single item of work done in the planning department which is not 
already being done in the shop. Establishing a planning depart¬ 
ment merely concentrates the planning and much other brain- 
work in a few men especially fitted for their task and trained in 
their especial lines, instead of having it done, as heretofore, in 
most cases by high priced mechanics, well fitted to work at their 
trades but poorly trained for work more or less clerical in its 

nature. 


1370 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


156. There is a close analogy between the methods of modern 
engineering and this type of management. Engineering now cen¬ 
tres in the drafting room as modern management does in the plan¬ 
ning department. The old style engineering had all the appear¬ 
ance of simplicity and economy, while modern engineering has all 
the appearance of complication and extravagance, with its multi¬ 
tude of drawings; and the amount of study and work which is put 
into each detail; and its corps of draftsmen, all of whom would be 
sneered at by the old engineer as “ non-producers/’ For the same 
reason, modern management, with its minute time study and a 
managing department in which each operation is carefullyplanned, 
with its many written orders and its apparent red tape, looks like 
a waste of money; while the ordinary management in which the 
planning is mainly done by the workmen themselves with the help 
of one or two foremen, seems simple and economical in the ex¬ 
treme. The writer, however, while still a young man, had all lin- 
gering doubt as to the value of a drafting room dispelled by seeing 
the chief engineer, the foreman of the machine shop, the foreman 
of the foundry and one or two workmen, in one of our large and 
successful engineering establishments of the old school, stand 
over the cylinder of an engine which was being built, with chalk 
and dividers, and discuss for more than an hour the proper size 
and location of the studs for fastening on the cylinder head. 
This was simplicity, but not economy. About the same time 
he became thoroughly convinced of the necessity and economy of 
a planning department with time study, and with written instruc¬ 
tion cards and returns. He saw over and over again a workman 
shut down his machine and hunt up the foreman to inquire, per¬ 
haps, what work to put into his machine next, and then chase 
around the shop to find it or to have a special tool or templet 
looked up or made. He saw workmen carefully nursing their 
jobs by the hour and doing next to nothing to avoid making a 
record, and he was even more forcibly convinced of the necessitv 
for a change while he was still working as a machinist by being 

3 1 ^ other men to slow down to half speed under 
penalty of being thrown over the fence. 

157. Xo one now doubts the economy of the drafting room, and 
the writer predicts that twenty years from now no one will doubt 
the economy and necessity of the study of unit times and of the 
planning department. 

158. Another point of analogy between modern engineering 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


137 L 


and modern management lies in the fact that modern engineering 
proceeds with comparative certainty to the design and construc¬ 
tion of a machine or structure of the maximum efficiency with 

i/ 

the minimum weight and cost of materials, while the old style 
engineering at best only approximated these results and then 
only after a series of breakdowns, involving the practical recon¬ 
struction of the machine and the lapse of a long period of time. 
The ordinary system of management, owing to the lack of exact 
information and precise methods, can only approximate to the 
desired standard of high wages accompanied by low labor cost 
and then only slowly, with marked irregularity in results, with 
continued opposition, and, in many cases, with danger from 
strikes. Modern management, on the other hand, proceeds 
slowly at first, but with directness and precision, step by step, 
and, after the first few object lessons, almost without opposition 
on the part of the men, to high wages and low labor cost; and 
what is of great importance, it assigns wages to the men which 
are uniformly fair. They are not demoralized, and their sense 
of justice offended by receiving wages which are sometimes too 
low and at other times entirely too high. One of its marked ad¬ 
vantages lies in its freedom from strikes. The writer has never 
been opposed by a strike, although he has been engaged for a 
great part of his time since 1883 in introducing this type of 
management in different parts of the country and in a great 
variety of industries. The only case of which the writer can 
think in which a strike under this system might be unavoidable 
would be that in which most of the employees were members of 
a labor union, and of a union whose rules were so inflexible and 
whose members were so stubborn that they were unwilling to try 
any other system, even though it assured them larger wages than 
their own. The writer has seen, however, several times after 
the introduction of this system, the members of labor unions who 
were working under it leave the union in large numbers because 
they found that they could do better under the operation of the 
system than under the laws of the union. 

159. There is no question that the average individual accom¬ 
plishes the most when he either gives himself, or someone else as¬ 
signs him, a definite task, namely, a given amount of work which he 
must do within a given time; and the more elementary the mind 
and character of the individual the more necessary does it become 
that each task shall extend over a short period of time only. No 


1372 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


school teacher would think of telling children in a general way to 
study a certain book or subject. It is practically universal to 
assign each day a definite lesson beginning on one specified page 
and line and ending on another; and the best progress is made 
when the conditions are such that a definite study hour or period 
can be assigned in which the lesson must be learned.. Most of us 
remain, through a great part of our lives, in this respect, grown-up 
children, and do our best only under pressure of a task of com¬ 
paratively short duration. 

160. Another and perhaps equally great advantage of assign- _ 
ing a daily task as against ordinary piece work lies in the fact 
that the success of a good workman or the failure of a poor one 
is thereby daily and prominently called to the attention of the 
management. Many a poor workman might be willing to go 
along in a slipshod way under ordinary piece work, careless as to 
whether he fell off a little in his output or not. Very few of 
them, however, would be willing to record a daily failure to 
accomplish their task even if they were allowed to do so by their 
foreman; and also since on ordinary piece work the price alone is 
specified without limiting the time which the job is to take, a 
quite large falling off in output can in many cases occur without 
coming to the attention of the management at all. It is for these 
reasons that the writer has above indicated “ A Large Daily 
Task ” for each man as the first of four principles which should 
be included in the best type of management. 

161. It is evident, however, that it is'useless to assign a task 
unless at the same time adequate measures are taken to enforce its 
accomplishment. As Artemus Ward says, “ I can call the spirits 
from the windy deep, but damn ’em they won't come! ” It is to 
compel the completion of the daily task then that two of the other 
principles are required, namely, “ High Pay for Success ” and 
“ Loss in Case of Failure.” The advantage of Mr. Gantt’s system 
of “ Task Work with a Bonus,” and the writer’s “ Differential 
Bate Piece Work ” over the other systems lies in the fact that with 
each of these the men automatically and dailv receive either an 

e/ «/ 

extra reward in case of complete success, or a distinct loss in case 
they fall off even a little. 

162. The four principles above referred to can be successfully 
applied either under day work, piece work, “ Task Work with a 
Bonus,” or “ Differential Bate Piece Work,” and each of these 
systems has its own especial conditions under which it is to be pre- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1373 


ferred to either of the other three. In no case, however, should 
an attempt be made to apply these principles unless an accurate 
and thorough time study has perviously been made of every item 
entering into the day’s task. 

163. They should be applied under day work only when a num¬ 
ber of miscellaneous jobs have to be done day after day, none 
of which can occupy the entire time of a man throughout 
the whole of a day and when the time required to do each of 
these small jobs is likely to vary somewhat each day. In this 
case a number of these jobs can be grouped into a daily task 
which should be assigned, if practicable, to one man, possibly 
even to two or three, but rarely to a gang of men of any size. To 
illustrate: In a small boiler house in which there is no storage 
room for coal, the work of wheeling the coal to the fireman, 
wheeling out the ashes, helping clean fires and keeping the boiler 
room and the outside of the boilers clean could be made into the 
daily task for a man, and if these items did not sum up into a full 
day’s work, on the average, other duties could be added until a 
proper task was assured. Or, the various details of sweeping, 
cleaning and keeping a certain section of a shop floor, windows, 
machines, etc., in order can be united to form a task. Or, in a 
small factory which turns out a uniform product and in uniform 
quantities day after day, supplying raw materals to certain parts 
of the factory and removing finished product from others may be 
coupled with other definite duties to form a task. The task 
should call for a large day’s work, and the man should be paid 
more than the usual day’s pay so that the position will be sought 
for by first-class, ambitious men. Clerical work can very prop¬ 
erly be done by the task in this way, although when there is 
enough of it, piece work at so much per entry is to be preferred. 
In all cases a clear cut, definite inspection of the task is desirable 
at least once a day and sometimes twice. When a shop is not 
running at night, a good time for this inspection is at seven 
o’clock in the morning, for instance. The inspector should daily 
sign a printed card, stating that he has inspected the work done 

by-, and enumerating the various items of the task. The 

card should state that the workman has satisfactorily performed 
his task, except the following items which should be enumerated in 
detail. 

164. When men are working on task work by the day, they 
should be made to start to work at the regular starting hour. They 



1374 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


should, however, have no regular time for leaving. As soon as 
the task is finished they should be allowed to go home; and, on 
the other hand, they should be made to stay at work until their 
task is done, even if it lasts into the night, no deduction being 
made for shorter hours nor extra pay allowed for overtime. It 
is both inhuman and unwise to ask a man, working on task work, 
to stay in the shop after his task is finished “ to maintain the 
discipline of the shop,” as is frequently done. It only tends to 
make men eye servants. 

165. An amusing instance of the value of task work with 
freedom to leave when the task is done was given the writer by 
his friend, Mr. Chas. D. Rogers, for many years superinten¬ 
dent of the American Screw Works, of Providence, P. I., one 
of the greatest mechanical geniuses and most resourceful man¬ 
agers that this country has produced, but a man who, owing 
to his great modesty, has never been fully appreciated out¬ 
side of those who know him well. Mr. Rogers tried several 
modifications of day and piece work in an unsuccessful endeavor 
to get the children who were engaged in sorting over the very 
small screws to do a fair day’s work. He finally met with great 
success by assigning to each child a fair day’s task and allowing 
him to go home and play as soon as his task was done. Each 
child’s play time was his own and highly prized while the greater 
part of his w T ages went to his parents. 

166. Piece work embodying the task idea can be used to advan¬ 
tage when there is enough work of the same general character to 
keep a number of men busy regularly; such work, for instance, as 
the Bethlehem yard labor above described, or the work of bicvcle 
ball inspection referred to later on. In piece work of this class the 
task idea should always be maintained by keeping it clearly before 
each man that his average daily earnings must amount to a given 
high sum (as in the case of the Bethlehem laborers, $1.85 per day), 
and that failure to average this amount will surely result in his 
being laid off. It must be remembered that on plain piece work 
the less competent workmen will always bring what influence and 
pi essure they can to cause the best men to slow down towards 
their level and that the task idea is needed to counteract this in¬ 
fluence. W here the labor market is large enough to secure in 
a reasonable time enough strictly first-class men, the piece work 
rates should be fixed on such a basis that only a first-class man 
working at his best can earn the average amount called for. This 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1375 


figure should be, in the case of first-class men as stated above, 
from 30 per cent, to 100 per cent, beyond the wages usually 
paid. The task idea.is emphasized with this style of piece work 
by two things—the high wages and the laying off, after a reason¬ 
able trial, of incompetent men ; and for the success of the system, 
the number of men employed on practically the same class of 
work should be large enough for the workmen quite often to have 
the object lesson of seeing men laid off for failing to earn high 
wages and others substituted in their places. 

167. There are comparatively few machine shops, or even manu¬ 
facturing establishments, in which the work is so uniform in its 
nature as to employ enough men on the same grade of work and 
in sufficiently close contact to one another to render piece work 
preferable to the other systems. In the great majority of cases the 
work is so miscellaneous in its nature as to call for the employment 
of workmen varying greatly in their natural ability and attain¬ 
ments, all the way, for instance, from the ordinary laborer, through 
the trained laborer, helper, rough machinist, fitter, machine hand, 
to the highly skilled special or all-round mechanic; and while in a 
large establishment there may be often enough men of the same 
grade to warrant the adoption of piece work with the task idea, 
yet, even in this case, they are generally so scattered in different 
parts of the shop that laying off one of their number for incom¬ 
petence does not reach the others with sufficient force to impress 
them with the necessity of keeping up with their task. 

168. It is evident then that, in the great majority of cases, the 
four leading principles in management can be best applied through 
either “ Task Work with a Bonus ” or the “ Differential Bate 
System,” in spite of the slight additional clerical work and the 
increased difficulty in planning ahead incident to these systems. 
Three of these principles, namely, “ A Large Daily Task,” “ High 
Pay for Success,” and “ Loss in Case of Failure ” form the very 
essence of both of these systems and act as a daily stimulant for 
the men, and the fourth element is a necessary preliminary, since 
without having first thoroughly standardized all of the conditions 
surrounding the work, neither of the two plans can be success¬ 
fully applied. 

169. In many cases the greatest good resulting from the appli¬ 
cation of these systems is the indirect gain which comes from the 
enforced standardization of all details and conditions, large and 
small, surrounding the work. All of the ordinary systems can be 

88 


1376 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


and are almost always applied without adopting and maintaining 
thorough shop standards. But the Task idea can not be carried 
out without them. 

170. The “ Differential Rate Piece Work ” is rather simpler in 
its application and is the more forceful of the two. It should be 
used wherever it is practicable, but in no case until after all the 
accompanying conditions have been perfected and completely 
standardized and a thorough time study has been made of all of 
the elements of the work. This system is particularly useful 
where the same kind of work is repeated day after day, and also 
whenever the maximum possible output is desired, which is al¬ 
most always the case in the operation of expensive machinery or 
of a plant occupying valuable ground or a large building. It is 
more forceful than “ Task Work with a Bonus ” because it not 
only pulls the man up from the top but pushes him equally hard 
from the bottom. Both of these systems give the workman a 
large extra reward when he accomplishes his full task within 
the given time. With the differential rate, if for any reason he 
fails to do his full task, he not only loses the large extra premium 
which is paid for complete success, but in addition he suffers the 
direct loss of the piece price for each piece by which he falls 
short. Failure under the “ Task with a Bonus ” system in¬ 
volves a corresponding loss of the extra premium or bonus, but 
the workman, since he is paid a given price per hour, receives his 
ordinary day’s pay in case of failure and suffers no additional loss 
beyond that of the extra premium whether he may have fallen 
short of the task to the extent of one piece or a dozen. 

171. In principle, these two systems appear to be almost identi¬ 
cal, yet this small difference, the slightly milder nature of “ Task 
Work with a Bonus,” is sufficient to render it much more flexible 
and therefore applicable to a large number of cases in which the 
“ differential rate ” cannot be used. “ Task Work with a 
Bonus ” was invented by Mr. II. L. Gantt while he was assisting 
the writer in organizing the Bethlehem Steel Company. The 
possibilities of his system were immediately recognized by all 
of the leading men engaged on the work, and long before it 
would have been practicable to use the “ Differential Rate,” work 
was started under this plan. It was successful from the start, 
and steadily grew in volume and in favor, and to-day is more 
extensively used there than ever before. 

172. Mr. Gantt’s system is especially useful during the difficult 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1377 


and delicate period of transition from the slow pace of ordinary 
day work to the high speed which is the leading characteristic of 
good management. During this period of transition in the past, 
a time was always reached when a sudden long leap was taken 
from improved day work to some form of piece work; and in 
making this jump many good men inevitably fell and were lost 
from the procession. Mr. Gantt’s system bridges over this diffi¬ 
cult stretch and enables the workman to go smoothly and with 
gradually accelerating speed from the slower pace of improved 
day work to the high speed of the new system. 

173. It does not appear that Mr. Gantt has recognized the full 
advantages to be derived through the proper application of his sys¬ 
tem during this period of transition, at any rate he has failed to 
point them out in his paper and to call attention to the best 
method of applying his plan in such cases. 

174. Ho workman can be expected to do a piece of work the 
first time as fast as he will later. It should also be recognized 
that it takes a certain time for men who have worked at the ordi¬ 
nary slow rate of speed to change to high speed. Mr. Gantt’s plan 
can be adapted to meet both of these conditions by allowing the 
workman to take a longer time to do the job at first and yet earn 
his bonus; and later compelling him to finish the job in the quick¬ 
est time in order to get the premium. In all cases it is of the 
utmost importance that each instruction card should state the 
quickest time in which the workman will ultimately be called upon 
to do the work. There will then be no temptation for the man to 
soldier since he will see that the management know accurately 
how fast the work can be done. 

175. There is also a large class of work in addition to that of the 
period of transition to which “ Task Work with a Bonus ” is 
especially adapted. The higher pressure of the differential rate 
is the stimulant required by the workman to maintain a high rate 
of speed and secure high wages while he has the steady swing 
that belongs to work which is repeated over and over again. 
When, however, the work is of such variety that each day presents 
an entirely new task, the pressure of the “ differential rate ” is 
sometimes too severe. The chances of failing to quite reach the 
task are greater in this class of work than in routine work; and in 
many such cases it is better, owing to the increased difficulties, 
that the workman should feel sure at least of his regular day’s 
rate, which is secured him by Mr. Gantt’s system in case he falls 


1378 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


short of the full task. There is still another case of quite fre¬ 
quent occurrence in which the flexibility of Mr. Gantt’s plan 
makes it the most desirable. In many establishments, partic¬ 
ularly those doing an engineering business of considerable vari¬ 
ety or engaged in constructing and erecting miscellaneous 
machinery, it is necessary to employ continuously a number of 
especially skilful and high-priced mechanics. The particular 
work for which these men are wanted comes, however, in many 
cases, at irregular intervals, and there are frequently quite long 
waits between their especial jobs. During such periods these 
men must be provided with work which is ordinarily done by 
less efficient, lower-priced men, and if a proper piece price has 
been fixed on this work it would naturally be a price suited to the 
less skilful men, and therefore too low for the men in question. 
The alternative is presented of trying to compel these especially 
skilled men to work for a lower price than they should receive, or 
of fixing a special higher piece price for the work. Fixing two 
prices for the* same piece of work, one for the man who usually 
does it and a higher price for the higher grade man, always causes 
the greatest feeling of injustice and dissatisfaction in the man who 
is discriminated against. With Mr. Gantt's plan, the less skilled 
workman would recognize the justice of paying his more experi¬ 
enced companion regularly a higher rate of wages by the day, 
yet when they were both working on the same kind of work each 
man would receive the same extra bonus for doing the full day’s 
task. Thus, with Mr. Gantt’s system, the total day’s pay of the 
higher classed man would be greater than that of the less skilled 
man, even when on the same work, and the latter would not be¬ 
grudge it to him. We may say that the difference is one of senti¬ 
ment, yet sentiment plays an important part in all of our lives; 
and sentiment is particularly strong in the workman when he be¬ 
lieves a direct injustice is being done him. 

176. Mr. James M. Dodge, our distinguished president, has in¬ 
vented an ingenious system of piece work which is adapted to 
meet this very case, and which has especial advantages not pos¬ 
sessed by any of the other plans. As he is to present a paper to 
the Society upon this subject, the writer will not trespass upon 
his preserves. 

177. It is clear, then, that in carrying out the task idea after the 
required knowledge has been obtained through a study of unit 
times,” each of the four systems, “ Day Work,” “ Straight Piece 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1379 


Work,” “ Task Work with a Bonus,” and “ Differential Piece 
Work,” has its especial field of usefulness, and that in every 
large establishment doing a variety of work all four of these 
plans can and should be used at the same time. Three of these 
systems were in use at the Bethlehem Steel Company when the 
writer left there, and the fourth would have soon been started if 
he had remained. 

178. Before leaving this part of the paper which has been de¬ 
voted to pointing out the value of the “ Daily Task ” in manage¬ 
ment, it would seem desirable to give an illustration of the value of 
the “ Differential Rate,” and also of the desirability of making 
each task as simple and short as practicable. 

179. The writer quotes as follows from a paper entitled “A 
Piece Rate System,” read by him before this Society in 1895: 

180. The first case in which a differential rate was applied during the year 1884, 
furnishes a good illustration of what can be accomplished by it. A standard steel 
forging, many thousands of which are used each year, had for several years been 
turned at the rate of from four to five per day under the ordinary system of piece 
work, 50 cents per piece being the price paid for the work. After analyzing the 
job, and determining the shortest time required to do each of the elementary 
operations of which it was composed, and then summing up the total, the writer 
became convinced that it was possible to turn ten pieces a day. To finish the 
forgings at this rate, however, the machinists w r ere obliged to work at their maxi¬ 
mum pace from morning to night, and the lathes w*ere run as fast as the tools 
would allow, and under a heavy feed. (Ordinary tempered tools 1 inch by 1^ 
inch made of carbon tool steel, -were used for this work.) 

181. It will be appreciated that this was a big day’s work, both for men and 
machines, when it is understood that it involved removing, with a single 16-inch 
lathe, having two saddles, an average of more than 800 lbs. of steel chips in ten 
hours. In place of the 50 cent rate, that they had been paid before, they were 
given 35 cents per piece when they turned them at the speed of 10 per day, and 
when they produced less than ten, they received only 25 cents per piece. 

182. It took considerable trouble to induce the men to turn at this high speed, 
since they did not at first fully appreciate that it was the intention of the firm to 
allow them to earn permanently at the rate of $3.50 per day. But from the day 
they first turned ten pieces to the present time, a period of more than ten years, 
the men who understood their work have scarcely failed a single day to turn at 
this rate. Throughout that time until the beginning of the recent fall in the 
scale of wages throughout the county, the rate was not cut. 

183. During this whole period, the competitors of the company never succeeded 
in averaging over half of this production per lathe, although they knew and even 
saw what was being done at Midvale. They, however, did not allow their men to 
earn over from $2.00 to $2.50 per day, and so never even approached the maxi¬ 
mum output. 

184. The following table will show the economy of paying high wages under the 
differential rate in doing the above job: 


1380 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


COST OF PRODUCTION PER LATHE PER DAY. 


Ordinary System of Piecework. 


Man’s wages ...82.50 

Machine cost. 3.37 

Total cost per day. 5.87 


5 pieces produced; Cost per piece.$l. 17 


Differential Rate System. 


Man’s wages .$3.50 

Machine cost. 3.37 

Total cost per day. 6.87 


10 pieces produced; Cost per piece.SO. 69 


185. The above result was mostly though not entirely due to the differential rate. 
The superior system of managing all of the small details of the shop counted for 
considerable. 


186. The exceedingly dull times that began in July, 1893, and 
were accompanied by a great fall in prices, rendered it necessary 
to lower the wages of machinists throughout the country. The 
wages of the men in the Midvale Steel Works were reduced at 
this time, and the change was accepted by them as fair and just. 

187. Throughout the works, however, the principle of the differ¬ 
ential rate was maintained, and was, and is still, fully appreciated 
by both the management and men. Through some error at the 
time of the general reduction of wages in 1893, the differential 
rate on the particular job above referred to was removed, and a 
straight piece-work rate of 25 cents per piece was substituted for 
it. The result of abandoning the differential proved to be the 
best possible demonstration of its value. Under straight piece 
work, the output immediately fell to between six and eight pieces 
per day, and remained at this figure for several years, although 
under the differential rate it had held throughout a long term of 
years steadily at ten per day. 

188. When work is to be repeated many times, the time study 
should be minute and exact. Each job should be carefully sub¬ 
divided into its elementary operations, and each of these “ unit 
times ” should receive the most thorough time study. 

189. In fixing the times for the tasks, and the piece-work rates 
in jobs of this class, the job should be subdivided into a number of 
divisions, and a separate time and price assigned to each division 
rather than to assign a single time and price for the whole job. 
This for several reasons, the most important of which is that the 
average workman, in order to maintain a rapid pace, should be 
given the opportunity of measuring his performance against the 
task set him at frequent intervals. Many men are incapable of 











SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1381 


looking very far ahead, but if they see a definite opportunity of 
earning so many cents by working hard for so many minutes, 
they will avail themselves of it. 

190. As an illustration, the steel tires used on car wheels and 
locomotives were originally turned in the Midvale Steel Works 
on piece work, a single piece-work rate being paid for all of the 
work which could be done on a tire at a single setting. A fixed 
price was paid for this work, whether there was much or little 
metal to be removed, and on the average this price was fair to the 
men. The apparent advantage of fixing a fair average rate was, 
that it made rate-fixing exceedingly simple, and saved clerk work 
in the time, cost and record keeping. 

191. A careful time study, however, convinced the writer that 
for the reasons given above most of the men failed to do their best. 
In place of the single rate and time for all of the work done at a 
setting, the writer subdivided tire-turning into a number of short 
operations, and fixed a proper time and price, varying for each 
small job, according to the amount of metal to be removed, and 
the hardness and diameter of the tire. The effect of this sub¬ 
division was to increase the output, with the same men, methods, 
and machines, at least thirty-three per cent. 

192. As an illustration of the minuteness of this subdivision, an 
instruction card similar to the one used is reproduced on the next 
page. (This card should be about 7 inches long by 44 inches 
wide.) 

193. The cost of the additional clerk work involved in this • 
change was so insignificant that it practically did not affect the 
problem. This principle of short tasks in tire turning was intro¬ 
duced by the writer in the Midvale Steel Works in 1883 and is 
still in full use there, having survived the test of twenty years’ 
trial with a change of management. 

194. In another establishment a differential rate was applied to 
tire turning, with operations subdivided in this way, by adding fif¬ 
teen per cent, to the pay of each tire turner whenever his daily or 
weekly piece work earnings passed a given figure. 

195. Another illustration of the application of this principle of 
measuring a man’s performance against a given task at frequent 
intervals to an entirely different line of work may be of interest. 
For this purpose the writer chooses the manufacture of bicycle 
balls in the works of the Symonds Rolling Machinb Company, in 
Fitchburg, Mass. All of the work done in this factory was sub- 


1382 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


Machine shop. 

Order for. 

Do work on Tire No. 

as follows and per blue print. 


.Tires. 



Tem 

plet. 

Size to 
be cut 
to. 

Depth 
of cut. 

Driving 

belt. 

Feed. 

Rate. 

Time this 
operation 
should take. 

Surface to be machined . 








Set tire on machine 
ready to turn. 








Rough face front edge . . 






- 


Finish face front edge . . 








Rough bore front. 


• 






Finish bore front. 








Rough face front I. S. C.. 








Cut out filled. 








Rough bore front I. S.F.. 








Rough face back edge . . 








Finish face back edge. . . 








Finish bore back. 








Rough bore back. 








Rough face back I. S. F . 





- 



Cut out filled. 








Cut recess. 








Rough turn thread. 








Finish turn thread. 








Rough turn flange. 








Finish turn flange. 








Clean fillet of flange .... 








Remove tire from ma¬ 
chine and clean face 
plate . 















* 

























































SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1383 


jected to an accurate time study, and then was changed from day 
to piece work through the assistance of functional foremanship, etc. 
The particular operation to be described, however, is that of 
inspecting bicycle balls before they were finally boxed for ship¬ 
ment. Many millions of these balls were inspected annually. 
When the writer undertook to systematize this work, the factory 
had been running for eight or ten years on ordinary dav work, 
so that the various employees were “ old hands,” and skilled at 
their jobs. The work of inspection was done entirely by girls— 
about one hundred and twenty being employed at it—all on day 
work. 

196. This work consisted briefly in placing a row of small pol¬ 
ished steel balls on the back of the left hand, in the crease between 
two of the fingers pressed together, and while they were rolled over 
and over, with the aid of a magnet held in the right hand, they 
were minutely examined in a strong light, and the defective balls 
picked out and thrown into especial boxes. Four kinds of defects 
were looked for—dented, soft, scratched, and fire cracked—and 
they were mostly so minute as to be invisible to an eye not espe¬ 
cially trained to this work. It required the closest attention and 
concentration. The girls had worked on day work for years, ten 
and one-half hours per day, with a Saturday half-holiday. 

197. The first move before in any way stimulating them toward 
a larger output was to insure against a falling off in quality. This 
was accomplished through over-inspection. Four of the most 
trustworthy girls were given each a lot of balls which had been 
examined the day before by one of the regular inspectors. The 
number identifying the lot having been changed by the foreman 
so that none of the over-inspectors knew whose work they were 
examining. In addition, one of the lots inspected by the four 
over-inspectors was examined on the following day by the chief 
inspector, selected on account of her accuracy and integrity. 

198. An effective expedient was adopted for checking the hon¬ 
esty and accuracy of the over-inspection. Every two or three days 
a lot of balls was especially prepared by the foreman, who 
counted out a definite number of perfect balls, and added a re¬ 
corded number of defective balls of each kind. The inspectors 
had no means of distinguishing this lot from the regular com¬ 
mercial lots. And in this way all temptation to slight their work 
or make false returns was removed. 

199. After insuring in this way against deterioration in quality, 


1384 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


effective means were at once adopted to increase the output. 
Improved day work was substituted for the old slipshod method. 
An accurate daily record, both as to quantity and quality, was 
kept for each inspector. In a comparatively short time this 
enabled the foreman to stir the ambition of all the inspectors by 
increasing the wages of those who turned out a large quantity 
and good quality, at the same time lowering the pay of those who 
fell short, and discharging others who proved to be incorrigibly 
slow or careless. An accurate time study was made through the 
use of a stop watch and record blanks, to determine how fast each 
kind of inspection should be done. This showed that the girls 
spent a considerable part of their time in partial idleness, talking 
and half working, or in actually doing nothing. 

200. Talking while at work was stopped by seating them far 
apart. The hours of work were shortened from 10-J per day, first 
to 9-J, and later to 8^; a Saturday half holiday being given them 
even with the shorter hours. Two recesses of ten minutes each 
were given them, in the middle of the morning and afternoon, 
during which they were expected to leave their seats, and were 
allowed to talk. 

201. The shorter hours, and improved conditions, made it pos¬ 
sible for the girls to really work steadily, instead of pretending to 
do so. Piece work was then introduced, a differential rate being 
paid, not for an increase in output, but for greater accuracy in the 
inspection; the lots inspected by the over-inspectors forming the 
basis for the payment of the differential. The work of each girl 
was measured every hour, and they were all informed whether 
they were keeping up with their tasks, or how far they had fallen 
short; and an assistant was sent by the foreman to encourage 
those who were falling behind, and help them to catch up. 

202. The principle of measuring the performance of each work¬ 
man against a standard at frequent intervals, of keeping them in¬ 
formed as to their progress, and of sending an assistant to help 
those .who were falling down, was carried out throughout the 
works, and proved to be most useful. 

203. The final results of the improved system in the inspecting 
department are as follows: 

1. Thirty-five girls did the w T ork formerly done by one hun¬ 
dred and twenty. 

2. The girls averaged from $6.50 to $9.00 per week instead of 
$3.50 to $4.50, as formerly. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1385 


3. They worked only 8-§ hours per day, with Saturday half¬ 
holiday, when they had formerly worked 10^ hours per day. 

4. An accurate comparison of the balls which were inspected 
under the old system of day work with those done under piece 
work, with over-inspection, showed that, in spite of the large in¬ 
crease in output per girl, there were 58 per cent, more defective 
balls left in the product as sold under day work than under piece 
work. In other w T ords, the accuracy of inspection under piece 
work w r as one-third greater than that under day work. 

204. That thirty-five girls were able to do the work which for¬ 
merly required about one hundred and twenty is due, not only to 
the improvement in the work of each girl, owing to better methods, 
but to the weeding out of the lazy and unpromising candidates, 
and the substitution of more ambitious individuals. 

205. A more interesting illustration of the effect of the im¬ 
proved conditions and treatment is shown in the following com¬ 
parison : Records were kept of the work of ten girls, all “ old 
hands,” and good inspectors, and the improvement made by these 
skilled hands is undoubtedly entirely due to better management. 
All of these girls throughout the period of comparison were en¬ 
gaged on the same kind of work, viz.: inspecting bicycle balls, 
three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. 

20G. The work of organization began in March, and although 
the records for the first three months were not entirely clear, the 
increased output due to better day work amounted undoubtedly to 
33 per cent. 

The increase per day from June on day work, to July on piece work, 

the hours each month being 10^.37 per cent. 

207. This increase was due to the introduction of piece work. 

Increase per day from July to Aug. Length of working day in July 

being 10£ hours, and in Aug. 9£ hours, both months piece work.. . 33 per cent. 

Increase Aug. to Sept. Length of working day in Aug. being 9£ hours, 

and in Sept., 8$ hours.0.08 per cent, 

208. That is, the girls did practically the same amount of work 
per day in September, in 8£ hours, that they did in August in 9^ 
hours. 

209. To summarize: The same ten girls did on an average each 
day in September, on piece work, when only working 8J hours per 




1386 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


day, 2.42 times as much, or nearly two and one-half times as 
much, in a day (not per hour, the increase per hour was of 
course much greater) as they had done when working on day 
work in starch with a working day of 10^ hours. They earned 
$6.50 to $9.00 per week on piece work, while they had only earned 
$3.50 to $4.50 on day work. The accuracy of inspection under 
piece work was one-third greater than under day work. 

210. The time study for this work was done by my friend, San¬ 
ford E. Thompson, C. E., who also had the actual management of 
the girls throughout the period of transition. At this time, Mr. 
H. L. Gantt was general superintendent of the company, and the 
work of systematizing was under the general direction of the 
writer. 

211. It is, of course, evident that the nature of the organiza¬ 
tions required to manage different types of business must vary to 
an enormous extent, from the simple tonnage works (with its uni¬ 
form product, which is best managed by a single strong man who 
carries all of the details in his head and who, with a few com¬ 
paratively cheap assistants, pushes the enterprise through to 
success), to the large machine works doing a miscellaneous busi¬ 
ness, with its intricate organization, in which the work of any one 
man necessarily counts for but little. 

212. It is this great difference in the type of the organization 
required that so frequently renders managers who have been emi¬ 
nently successful in one line utter failures when they undertake 
the direction of works of a different kind. This is particularly 
true of men successful in tonnage work who are placed in charge 
of shops involving much greater detail. 

213. In selecting an organization for illustration, it would seem 
best to choose one of the most elaborate. The manner in which 
this can be simplified to suit a less intricate case will readily sug¬ 
gest itself to any one interested in the subject. One of the most 
difficult works to organize is that of a large engineering establish¬ 
ment building miscellaneous machinery, and the writer has there¬ 
fore chosen this for description. 

“14. I racticallv all of the shops of this class are organized 
upon what may be called the military plan. The orders from the 
general are transmitted through the colonels, majors, captains, 
lieutenants and non-commissioned officers to the men. In the 
same way the orders in industrial establishments go from the 
manager through superintendents, foremen of shops, assistant 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1387 


foremen and gang bosses to the men. In an establishment of 
this kind the duties of the foremen, gang bosses, etc., are so 
varied, and call for an amount of special information coupled 
with such a variety of natural ability, that only men of unusual 
qualities to start with, and who have had years of special train¬ 
ing, can perform them in a satisfactory manner. It is because 
of the difficulty (almost the impossibility) of getting suitable 
foremen and gang bosses, etc., more than for any other reason, 
that we so seldom hear of a miscellaneous machine works start¬ 
ing in on a large scale and meeting with much, if any, suc¬ 
cess for the first few years. This difficulty is not fully realized 
by the managers of the old well established companies, since their 
superintendents and assistants have grown up with the business, 
and have been gradually worked into and fitted for their especial 
duties through years of training and the process of natural selec¬ 
tion. Even in these establishments, however, this difficulty has 
impressed itself upon the managers so forcibly that most of them 
have of late years spent thousands of dollars in re-grouping their 
machine tools for the purpose of making their foremanship more 
effective. The planers have been placed in one group, slotters in 
another, lathes in another, etc., so as to demand a smaller range 
of experience and less diversity of knowledge from their respec¬ 
tive foremen. For an establishment, then, of this kind, starting 
up on a large scale, it may be said to be an impossibility to get 
suitable superintendents and foremen. The writer found this 
difficulty at first to be an almost insurmountable obstacle to his 
work in organizing manufacturing establishments; and after 
years of experience, overcoming the opposition of the heads of 
departments and the foremen and gang bosses, and training them 
to their new duties, still remains the greatest problem in organ¬ 
ization. The writer has had comparatively little trouble in in¬ 
ducing workmen to change their ways and to increase their speed, 
providing the proper object lessons are presented to them, and 
time enough is allowed for these to produce their effect. It is 
rarely the case, however, that superintendents and foremen can 
find any reasons for changing their methods, which, as far as 
they can see, have been successful. And having, as a rule, ob¬ 
tained their positions owing to their unusual force of character, 
and being accustomed daily to rule other men, their opposition 
is generally effective. 

215. In the writer’s experience, ahnost all shops are under- 


1388 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


officered. Invariably the number of leading men employed is not 
sufficient to do the work economically. 

216. Under the military type of organization, the foreman is 
held responsible for the successful running of the entire shop, and 
when we measure his duties by the standard of the four leading 
principles of management above referred to, it becomes apparent 
that in his case these conditions are as far as possible from 
being fulfilled. His duties may be briefly enumerated as fol¬ 
lows : He must lay out the work for the whole shop, see that each 
piece of work goes in the proper order to the right machine, and 
that the man at the machine knows just what is to be done and 
how he is to do it. He must see that the work is not slighted, and 
that it is done fast, and all the while he must look ahead a month 
or so, either to provide more men to do the work or more work 
for the men to do. He must constantly discipline the men and 
readjust their wages, beside fixing piece work prices and super¬ 
vising the timekeeping. 

217. The first of the four leading principles in management 
calls for a “ clearly defined and circumscribed task.” Evidently 
the foreman’s duties are in no way clearly circumscribed. It is left 
each day entirely to his judgment what small part of the mass of 
duties before him it is most important for him to attend to, and 
he staggers along under this fraction of the work for which he 
is responsible, leaving the balance to be done in many cases as 
the gang bosses and workmen see fit. 

218. The second principle calls for “ such conditions that the 
daily task can always be accomplished.” The conditions in his 
case are always such that it is impossible for him to do it all, and 
he never even makes a pretence of fulfilling his entire task. 

219. The third and fourth principles call for high pay in case 
the task is successfully done, and low pay in case of failure. 

220. The failure to realize the first two conditions, however, ren¬ 
ders the application of the last two out of the question. The fore¬ 
man usually endeavors to lighten his burdens by delegating his 
duties to the various assistant foremen or gang bosses in charge of 
lathes, planers, milling machines, vise work, etc. Each of these 
men is then called upon to perform duties of almost as great vari¬ 
ety as those of the foreman himself. The difficulty in obtaining 
in one man the variety of special information and the different 
mental and moral qualities necessary to perform all of the duties 
demanded of these men has been clearly summarized as follows: 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1389 


221. These nine qualities go to make up a well rounded, man: 

Brains, 

Education, 

Special or technical knowledge; manual dexterity or strength. 

Tact, 

Energy, 

Grit, 

Honesty, 

Judgment or common sense and 

Good health. 

222. Plenty of men who possess only three of the above quali¬ 
ties can be hired at any time for laborers’ wages. Add four of these 
qualities together and you get a higher priced man. The man 
combining five of these qualities begins to be hard to find, and 
those with six, seven, and eight are almost impossible to get. 
Having this fact in mind, let us go over the duties which a gang 
boss in charge, say, of lathes or planers, is called upon to perform, 
and note the knowledge and qualities which they call for: 

223. First. He must be a good machinist—and this alone calls 
for years of special training, and limits the choice to a compara¬ 
tively small class of men. 

224. Second. He must be able to read drawings readily, and 
have sufficient imagination to see the work in its finished state 
clearly before him. This calls for at least a certain amount of 
brains and education. 

225. Third. He must plan ahead and see that the right jigs, 
clamps and appliances, as well as proper cutting tools, are on hand, 
find are used to set the work correctly in the machine and cut the 
metal at the right speed and feed. This calls for the ability to 
concentrate the mind upon a multitude of small details, and take 
pains with little, uninteresting things. 

226. Fourth. He must see that each man keeps his machine 
clean and in good order. This calls for the example of a man 
who is naturally neat and orderly himself. 

227. Fifth. He must see that each man turns out work of the 
proper quality. This calls for the conservative judgment and the 
honesty which are the qualities of a good inspector. 

228. Sixth. He must see that the men under him work steadily 
and fast. To accomplish this he should himself be a hustler, a man 
of energy, ready to pitch in and infuse life into his men by work¬ 
ing faster than they do, and this quality is rarely combined with 


1390 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


the painstaking care, the neatness and the conservative judgment 
demanded as the third, fourth, and fifth requirements of a gang 
boss. 

229. Seventh. He must constantly look ahead over the whole 
field of work and see that the parts go to the machines in their 
proper sequence, and that the right job gets to each machine. 

230. Eighth. He must, at least in a general way, supervise the 
timekeeping and fix piece work rates. 

Both the seventh and eighth duties call for a certain amount of 
clerical work and ability, and this class of work is almost always 
repugnant to the man suited to active executive work, and diffi¬ 
cult for him to do; and the rate-fixing alone requires the whole 
time and careful study of a man especially suited to its minute 
detail. ' 

231. Ninth. He must discipline the men under him, and re- * 
adjust their wages; and these duties call for judgment, tact and 
judicial fairness. 

232. It is evident, then, that the duties which the ordinary gang 
boss is called upon to perform would demand of him a large pro¬ 
portion of the nine attributes mentioned above; and if such a man 
could be found, he should be made manager or superintendent of a 
works instead of gang boss. However, bearing in mind the fact 
that plenty of men can be had who combine four or five of these at¬ 
tributes, it becomes evident that the work of management should 
be so subdivided that the various positions can be filled by men of 
this calibre, and a great part of the art of management undoubt¬ 
edly lies in planning the work in this way. This can, in the judg¬ 
ment of the writer, be best accomplished by abandoning the mili¬ 
tary type of organization and introducing two broad and sweep¬ 
ing changes in the art of management: 

233. First. As far as possible the workmen, as well as the gang 
bosses and foremen, should be entirely relieved of the work of 
planning, and of all work which is more or less clerical in its 
nature. All possible brain work should be removed from the 
shop and centred in the planning or laying-out department, leav¬ 
ing for the foremen and gang bosses work strictly executive in its 
nature; their duties being to see that the operations planned and 
directed from the planning room are promptly carried out in the 
shop. Their time should be spent with the men, teaching them to 
think ahead, and leading and instructing them in their work. 

Second. Throughout the whole field of management the mili-’ 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1391 


tary type of organization should be abandoned, and what may be 
called the ‘ k functional type ” substituted in its place. 

234. “ Functional management” consists in so dividing the 
work of management that each man from the assistant superintend¬ 
ent down shall have as few functions as possible to perform. If 
practicable the work of each man in the management should be 
confined to the performance of a single leading function. Under 
the ordinary or military type the workmen are divided into groups. 
The men in each group receive their orders from one man only, 
the foreman or gang boss of that group. This man is the single 
agent through which the various functions of the management are 
brought into contact with the men. Certainly the most marked 
outward characteristic of “ Functional Management ” lies in the 
fact that each workman, instead of coming in direct contact with 
the management at one point only, namely, through his gang 
boss, receives his daily orders and help directly from eight differ¬ 
ent bosses, each of whom performs his own particular function. 
Four of these bosses are in the planning room and of these three 
send their orders to and receive their returns from the men, usu¬ 
ally in writing. Four others are in the shop and personally help 
the men in their work, each boss helping in his own particular 
line or function only. Some of these bosses come in contact with 
each man only once or twice a day and then for a few minutes 
perhaps, while others are with the men all the time, and help 
each man frequently. The functions of one or two of these 
bosses require them to come in contact with each workman for 
so short a time each day that they can perform their particular 
duties perhaps for all of the men in the shop; and in their line 
they manage the entire shop, while other bosses are called upon 
to help their men so much and so often that each boss can per¬ 
form his function for but a few men, and in this particular line 
a number of bosses are required, all performing the same func¬ 
tion but each having his particular group of men to help. Thus 
the grouping of the men in the shop is entirely changed, each 
workman belonging to eight different groups according to the par¬ 
ticular functional boss whom he happens to be working under at 
the time. 

235. The following is a brief description of the duties of the 
four types of executive functional bosses which the writer has 
found it profitable to use in the active work of the shop: “ Gang 
Bosses,” “ Speed Bosses,” “ Inspector,” and “ Repair Bosses.” 

89 



1392 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


230. The gang boss has charge of the preparation of all work 
up to the time that the piece is set in the machine. It is his 
duty to see that every man under him has at all times at least 
one piece of work at his machine, with all the jigs, templets, draw¬ 
ings, driving mechanism, sling chains, etc., ready to go into his 
machine as soon as the piece he is actually working on is done. 
The gang boss must show his men how to set their work in their 
machines in the quickest time, and see that they do it. He is 
responsible for the work being accurately and quickly set, and 
should be not only able but willing to pitch in himself and show 
the men how to set the work in record time. 

237. The speed boss must see that the proper cutting tools 
are used for each piece of work, that the work is properly driven, 
that the cuts are started in the right part of the piece, and that 
the best speeds and feeds and depth of cut are used. ITis work 
begins only after the piece is in the lathe or planer, and ends 
when the actual machining ends. The speed boss must not only 
advise his men how to best do this work, but he must see that 
they do it in the quickest time, and that they use the speeds and 
feeds and depth of cut as directed on the instruction card. In 
many cases he is called upon to demonstrate that the work can 
be done in the specified time by doing it himself in the presence 
of his men. 

238. The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work, 
and both the workmen and speed bosses must see that the work 
h all finished to suit him. This man can, of course, do his work 
best if lie is a master of the art of finishing work both well and 
quickly. 

239. The repair boss sees that each workman keeps his 
machine clean, free from rust and scratches, and that he oils’and 
treats it properly, and that all -of the standards established for the 
care and maintenance of the machines and their accessories are 
rigidly maintained, such as care of belts and shifters, cleanliness 
of floor around machines, and orderly piling and disposition of 
work. 

240. The following is an outline of the duties of the four func¬ 
tional bosses who are a part of the planning department, and who 
in their various functions represent this department in its connec¬ 
tion with the men. The first three of these send their directions 
to and receive their returns from the men, mainly in writing. 
These four representatives of the planning room are, the “ order 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1393 


of work clerk/ “ instruction card men/’ “ time and cost clerk,” 
and k ‘ shop disciplinarian.” 

241. u Order of Work or Route Cleric —After the proper man 
in the planning department has laid out the exact route which 
each piece of work is to travel through the shop from machine to 
machine in order that it may be finished at the time it is needed 
for assembling, and the work done in the most economical way, 
the “ route clerk ” daily writes lists instructing the workmen 
and also all of the executive shop bosses as to the exact order in 
which the work is to be done by each class of machines or men, 
and these lists constitute the chief means for directing the work¬ 
men in this particular function. 

242. Instruction Card Men .—The “ instruction card,” as its 
name indicates, is the chief means employed by the planning de¬ 
partment in instructing both the executive bosses and the men in 
all of the details of their work. It tells them briefly the general 
and detail drawing to refer to, the piece number and the cost 
order number to charge the work to, the special jigs, fixtures, or 
tools to use, where to start each cut, the exact depth of each cut, 
and how many cuts to take, the speed and feed to be used for 
each cut, and the time within which each operation must be fin¬ 
ished. It also informs them as to the piece rate, the differential 
rate or the premium to be paid for completing the task within 
the specified time (according to the system employed); and 
further, when necessary, refers them by name to the man who 
will give them especial directions. This instruction card is filled 
in by one or more members of the planning department, accord¬ 
ing to the nature and complication of the instructions, and bears 
the same relation to the planning room that the drawing does to 
the drafting room. The man who sends it into the shop and 
who, in case difficulties are met with in carrying out the instruc¬ 
tions, sees that the proper man sweeps these difficulties away, is 
called “ the instruction card foreman.” 

243. Time and Cost-Clerk .—This man sends to the men through 
the “ instruction card ” all the information they need for record¬ 
ing their time and the cost of the work, and secures proper returns 
from them and refers these for entry to the cost and time record 
clerks in the planning room. 

244. Shop Disciplinarian .—In case of insubordination or im¬ 
pudence, repeated failure to do their duty, lateness or unexcused 
absence, the shop disciplinarian takes the workman or bosses in 




1394 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


hand and applies the proper remedy, and sees that a complete 
record of each man’s virtues and defects is kept. r I his man 
should also have much to do with readjusting the wages of the 
workmen. At the very least, he should invariably be consulted 
before any change is made. One of his important functions 
should be that of peace-maker. 

245. Thus we see, under Functional Foremanship, the work 
which, with the military type of organization, was done by the 
single “ gang boss,” subdivided among eight men. 

“Route Clerks,” “Instruction Card Men,” “Cost and Time 
Clerks .”—Who plan and give directions from the planning 
room. 

“ Gang Bosses,” “ Speed Bosses,” “ Inspectors,” “ Repair Bosses.” 
—Who show the men how to carry out their instructions, and see 
that the work is done at the proper speed. 

And the “ Shop Disciplinarian.” —Who performs this func¬ 
tion for the entire establishment. 

240. The greatest good resulting from this change is that it be*< % 
comes possible in a comparatively short time to train bosses who 
can really and fully perform the functions demanded of them, 
while under the old system it took years to train men who were 
after all able to thoroughly perform only a portion of their 
duties. A glance at the nine qualities needed for a well rounded 
man and then at the duties of the “ functional foreman ” will show 
that each of these men requires but a limited number of the nine 
qualities in order to successfully fill his position; and that the 
special knowledge which he must acquire forms only a small part 
of that needed by the old style gang boss. The writer has seen 
men taken (some of them from the ranks of the workmen, others 
from the old style bosses and others from among the graduates 
of industrial schools, technical schools and colleges) and trained 
to become efficient functional foremen in from six to eighteen 
months. Thus it becomes possible with functional foremanship to 
thoroughly and completely equip even a new company starting 
on a large scale with competent officers in a reasonable time, whiph 
is entirely out of the question under the old system. Another 
great advantage resulting from divided foremanship is that it 
becomes entirely practicable to apply the four leading principles 
of management to the bosses as well as to the workmen. Each 
foreman can have a task assigned him which is so accuratelv 
measured that he will be kept fully occupied and still will daily 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1395 


be able to perform his entire function. This renders it possible 
to pay him high wages when he is successful by giving him a pre¬ 
mium similar to that offered the men and leave him with low pay 
when he fails. 

247. The full possibilities of functional foremanship, however, 
will not have been realized until almost all of the machines in the 
shop &re run by men who are of smaller calibre and attainments, 
and who are therefore cheaper than those required under the old 
system. The adoption of standard tools, appliances and methods 
throughout the shop, the planning done in the planning room and 
the detailed instructions sent them from this department, added 

' to'The direct help received from the four executive bosses, permit 

"the use of comparatively cheap men even on complicated work. 
Of the men in the machine shop of the Bethlehem Steel Company 
engaged in running the roughing machines, and who were working 
under the bonus system when the writer left them, about 95 per 
cent. w r ere handy men trained up from laborers. And on the 
finishing machines working on bonus about 25 per cent, were 
handy men. 

248. To fully understand the importance of the work which was 
being done by these former laborers, it must be borne in mind 
that a considerable part of their work was very large and expen¬ 
sive. The forgings which they were engaged in roughing and 
finishing weighed frequently many tons. 

249. Of course they were paid more than laborer’s wages, 
though not as much as skilled machinists. The work in this shop 
was most miscellaneous in its nature. 

250. Functional foremanship is already in limited use in many 
of the best managed shops. A number of managers have seen the 
practical good that arises from allowing two or three men especi¬ 
ally trained in their particular lines to deal directly with the men 
instead of at second hand through the old style gang boss as a 
mouthpiece. So deep rooted, however, is the conviction that the 
verv foundation of management rests in the military type as repre- 
sented by the principle that no workman can work under two bosses 
at the same time, that all of the managers who are making lim¬ 
ited use of the functional plan seem to feel it necessary to apol¬ 
ogize for or explain away their use of it; as not really in this 
particular case being a violation of that principle. The writer 
has never yet found one, except among the works which he had 
assisted in organizing, who came out squarely and acknowledged 


1396 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


that he was using functional foreinanship because it was the right 
principle. 

251. The writer introduced five of the elements of functional 
foremanship into the management of the small machine shop of 
the Midvale Steel Company of Philadelphia while he was foreman 
of that shop in 1882-1883—the “ Instruction Card Man,” the 
“Time Clerk,” the “ Inspector,” the “Gang Boss,” and the “Shop 
Disciplinarian.” Each of these functional bosses dealt directly 
with the workmen instead of giving their orders through the 
“ Gang Boss.” The dealings of the “ Instruction Card Man ” 
and “ Time Clerk ” with the workmen were mostly in writing, 
and the writer himself performed the functions of “ Shop Dis¬ 
ciplinarian,” so that it was not until he introduced the “ Inspec¬ 
tor,” with orders to go straight to the men instead of to the gang 
boss, that he appreciated the desirability of functional foreman- 
ship as a distinct principle in management. 

252. The prepossession in favor of the military type was so 
strong with the managers and owners of Midvale that it was not 
until years after functional foremanship was in continual use in 
this shop that he dared to advocate it to his superior officers as the 
correct principle. 

253. Until very recently in his organization of works he has 
found it best to first introduce five or six of the elements of func¬ 
tional foremanship quietly, and get them running smoothly in a 
shop before calling attention to the principle involved; and when 
the time for this announcement comes, it invariably acts as the 
proverbial red rag on the bull. It is only within the last twleve 
years that the writer subdivided the duties of the “old gang boss” 
who spent his whole time with the men into the four functions of 
“ Speed Boss,” “ Bepair Boss,” “ Inspector/’ and “ Gang Boss,” 
and it is the introduction of these four shop bosses directly help¬ 
ing the men (particularly that of the “ Speed Boss ”) in place of 
the single old boss, that has produced the greatest improvement 
in the shop. 

254. When functional foremanship is introduced in a large 
shop, it is desirable that all of the bosses who are performing the 
same function should have their own foreman over them; for in¬ 
stance, the speed bosses should have a speed foreman over them, 
the gang bosses, a head gang boss ; the inspectors, a chief inspector, 
etc., etc. The functions of these over foremen are twofold: First* 
that of teaching each of the bosses under them the exact nature of 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1397 


his duties, and at the start, also of nerving and bracing them up to 
the point of insisting that the workmen shall carry out the orders 
exactly as specified on the instruction cards. This is a difficult task 
at first, as the workmen have been accustomed for years to do the 
details of the work to suit themselves, and many of them are inti¬ 
mate friends of the bosses and believe they know quite as much 
about their business as the latter. The second function of the 
over-foreman is to smooth out the difficulties which arise between 
the different types of bosses who in turn directly help the men. 
The “ Speed Boss,” for instance, always follows after the “ gang 
boss ” on any particular job in taking charge of the workman. 
In this way their respective duties come in contact edgewa'ys, as 
it were, for a short time, and at the start there is sure to be more 
or less friction between the two. If two of these bosses meet 
with a difficulty which they cannot settle, they send for their 
respective over-foremen, who are usually able to straighten it 
out. In case the latter are unable to agree on the remedy, the 
case is referred by them to the assistant superintendent, whose 
duties, for a certain time at least, may consist largely in arbi¬ 
trating such difficulties and thus establishing the unwritten code 
of laws by which the shop is governed. This serves as one 
example of what is called the a exception principle ” in manage¬ 
ment, which is referred to later. 

255. Before leaving this portion of the subject the writer wishes 
to call attention to the analogy which functional foremanship bears 
to the management of a large, up-to-date school. In such a 
school the children are each day successively taken in hand by 
one teacher aftqr another who is trained in his particular spe¬ 
cialty, and they are in many cases disciplined by a man partic¬ 
ularly trained in this function. The old style, one teacher to a 
class plan is entirely out of date. 

256. The writer has found that better results are attained by 
placing the planning department in one office situated, of course, 
as close to the centre of the shop or shops as practicable, rather 
than bv locating its members in different places according to their 
duties. This department performs more or less the functions of a 
clearing house. In doing their various duties, its members must 
exchange information frequently, and since they send their orders 
to and receive their returns from the men in the shop, principally 
in writing, simplicity calls for the use, when possible, of a single 
piece of paper for each job for conveying the instructions of the 


1398 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


different members of the planning room to the men and another 
similar paper for receiving the returns from the men to the 
department. Writing out these orders and acting promptly on 
receipt of the returns and recording same requires the members 
of the department to be close together. The large machine shop 
of the Bethlehem Steel Company was more than a quarter of 
a mile long, and this was successfully run from a single planning 
room situated close to it. The manager, superintendent, and 
their assistants should, of course, have their offices adjacent to 
the planning room and, if practicable, the drafting room should 
be near at hand, thus bringing all of the planning and purely 
brain work of the establishment close together. The advantages 
of this concentration were found to be so great at Bethlehem that 
the general offices of the company, which were formerly located in . 
the business part of the town about a mile and a half away, w T ere 
moved into the middle of the works adjacent to the planning room. 

257. The shop (indeed the whole works) should be managed, 
not by the manager, superintendent, or foreman, but by the plan¬ 
ning department. The daily routine of running the entire works 
should be carried on by the various functional elements of this 
department, so that, in theory at least, the works could run 
smoothly even if the manager, superintendent and their assistants 
outside the planning room were all to be away for a month at a 
time. 

258. The following are the leading functions of the Planning 
Department: 

A. —The complete analysis of all orders for machines or work 
taken by the company. 

B. —Time study for all work done by hand throughout the 
works, including that done in setting the work in machines, and 
all bench, vise .work and transportation, etc. 

C. —Time study for all operations done by the various 
machines. 

D. —The balance of all materials, raw materials, stores and 
finished parts, and the balance of the work ahead for each class 
of machines and workmen. 

E. —The analysis of all inquiries for new work received in the 
sales department and promises for time of delivery. 

F. —The cost of all items manufactured with complete expense 
analysis and complete monthly comparative cost and expense 
exhibits. 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1399 


G. —The pay department. 

H. —The Mnemonic Symbol System for identification of parts 
ad for charges. 

I. —Information bureau. 

J. —Standards. 

K. —Maintenance of system and plant, and use of the tickler. 

L. —Messenger system and post office delivery. 

M. —Employment bureau. 

AT.—The shop disciplinarian. 

O. —A mutual accident insurance association. 

P. —Rush order department. 

Q. —Improvement of system or plant. 

2 K A.— The Complete Analysis of All Orders for Machines or 

Work Taken by the Company. 

"his analysis should indicate the designing and drafting re- 
ql 'ed, the machines or parts to be purchased and all data needed 
R the purchasing agent, and as soon as the necessary drawings 
and information come from the drafting room the lists of pat¬ 
terns, castings and forgings to be made, together with all instruc¬ 
tions for making them, including general and detail drawing, 
piece number, the Mnemonic Symbol belonging to each piece (as 
referred to in “ H ”)—a complete analysis of the successive 
operations to be done on each piece, and the exact route which 
each piece is to travel from place to place in the works. 


260. B .—Time Study for All Work Done by Hand Throughout 
the Works, Including That Done in Setting the Work in Ma¬ 
chines , and All Bench, Vise Work, and Transportation, etc. 

This information for each particular operation should be ob¬ 
tained by summing up the various “ unit times ” of which it 
consists. To do this, of course, requires the men performing this 
function to keep continually posted as to the best methods and 
appliances to use, and also to frequently consult with and receive 
advice from the executive gang bosses who carry out this work 
in the shop, and from the man in the department of standards 
and maintenance of plant (J) beneath. The actual study of 
“ unit times,” of course, forms the greater part of the work of 
this section of the planning room. 








1400 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


261. C.— Time Study for All Operations Done by the Yarious 

Machines. 

This information is best obtained from slide rules, one of 
which is made for each machine tool or class of machine tools 
throughout the works; one, for instance, for small lathes of the 
same type, one for planers of same type, etc. These slide rules 
show the best way to machine each piece and enable detailed 
directions to be given the workman as to how many cuts to take, 
where to start each cut, both for roughing out work and finishing 
it, the depth of the cut, the best feed and speed, and the exact 
time required to do each operation. 

262. The information obtained through function “ B,” to¬ 
gether with that obtained through “ C,” afford the basis for 
fixing the proper piece rate, differential rate or the premium to 
be paid (according to the system employed). 


263. D.— The Balance of All Materials, Daw Materials , Stores 
and Finished Parts , and the Number of Days 5 Work Ahead 
for Each Class of Machines and Workmen. 

Returns showing all receipts, as well as the issue of all raw 
materials, stores, partly finished work and completed parts and 
machines, repair parts, etc., daily pass through the balance clerk, 
and eacli item of which there have been issues or receipts, or 
which has been appropriated to the use of a machine about to be 
manufactured, is daily balanced. Thus the balance clerk can 
see that the required stocks of materials are kept on hand by 
notifying at once the purchasing agent or other proper party 
when the amount on hand falls below the prescribed figure. The 
balance clerk should also keep a complete running balance of the 
hours of work ahead for each class of machines and workmen, 
receiving for this purpose daily from A, B and C statements of 
the hours of new work entered, and from the inspectors and daily 
time cards a statement of the work as it is finished. He should 
keep the manager and sales department posted through daily or 
weekly condensed reports as to the number of days of work 
ahead for each department, and thus enable them to obviate 
either a congestion or scarcity of work. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1401 


264. E.— The Analysis of All Inquiries for New Work Received 

in the Sales Department and Promises for Time of Delivery. 

The man or men in the planning room who performs the duties 
indicated at u A ” above should consult with B and C and obtain 
from them approximately the time required to do the work in¬ 
quired for, and from D the days of work ahead for the 
various machines and departments, and inform the sales depart¬ 
ment as to the probable time required to do the work and the 
earliest date of delivery. 


265. F.— The Cost of All Items Manufactured With Complete Ex¬ 
pense Analysis and Complete Monthly Comparative Cost and 
Expense Exhibits. 

The books of the company should be monthly closed and bal¬ 
anced as completely as they usually are at the end of the year, 
and the exact cost of each article of merchandise finished during 
the previous month should be entered on a comparative cost 
sheet. The expense exhibit should also be a comparative sheet. 
The cost account should be a completely balanced account, not 
a memorandum account as it generally is; and the entire expenses 
cf the establishment, direct and indirect, including the adminis¬ 
tration and sales expense, should be charged to the cost of the 
product which' is to be sold. 

266. G.— The Pay Department. 

The pay department should include not only a record of the 
time and wages and piece work earnings of each man, and his 
weekly or monthly payment, but the entire supervision of the 
arrival and departure of the men from the works and the various 
checks needed to insure against error or cheating. It is desirable 
that some one of the “ exception systems ” of time keeping 
should be used. 

267. IT.— The Mnemonic Symbol System for Identification of 

Parts and for Charges. 

Some one of the Mnemonic Symbol Systems should be used 
instead of numbering the parts or orders for identifying the vari¬ 
ous articles of manufacture, as well as the operations to be p<w- 




1402 SHOP MANAGEMENT. 

formed on each piece and the various expense charges of the 
establishment. This becomes a matter of great importance when 
written directions are sent from the planning room to the men, 
and the men make their returns in writing. The clerical work 
and chances for error are thereby greatly diminished. 


268. I.— Information Bureau. 

The information bureau should include catalogues of drawings 
(providing the drafting room is close enough to the planning 
room) as well as all records and reports for the whole establish¬ 
ment. The art of properly indexing information is by no means 
a simple one, and as far as possible it should be centred in one 
man. 


269. J.— Standards. 

The adoption and maintenance of standard tools, fixtures and 
appliances down to the smallest item, throughout the works and 
office, as well as the adoption of standard methods of doing all 
operations which are repeated, is a matter of importance, so that 
under similar conditions the same appliances and methods shall 
r be used throughout the plant. This is an absolutely necessary 
preliminary to success in assigning daily tasks which are fair and 
which can be carried out with certainty. 

270. K.— Maintenance of System and Plant , and Use of the 

Tickler. 

One of the most important functions of the planning room is 
that of the maintenance of the entire system, and of standard 
methods and appliances throughout the establishment, including 
the planning room itself. An elaborate time table should be 
made out showing daily the time when and place where each 
report is due, which is necessary to carry on the work and to 
maintain the system. It should be the duty of the member of 
the planning room in charge of this function to find out at each 
time through the day when reports are due, whether they have 
been received, and if not, to keep bothering the man who is 
behind hand until he has done his duty. Almost all of the re- 
ports, etc., going in and out of the planning room can be made 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1403 


to pass through this man. As a mechanical aid to him in per¬ 
forming his function the tickler is invaluable. The best type of 
tickler is one which has a portfolio for each day in the year large 
enough to insert all reminders and even quite large instruction 
cards and reports without folding. In maintaining methods and 
appliances, notices should be placed in the tickler in advance, to 
come out at proper intervals throughout the year for the inspec¬ 
tion of each element of the system and the inspection and over¬ 
hauling of all standards as well as the examination and repairs 

I at stated intervals of parts of machines, boilers, engines, belts, 
etc., likely to wear out or give trouble, thus preventing break¬ 
downs and delays. One tickler can be used for the entire works 
and is preferable to a number of individual ticklers; each man 
can remind himself of his various small routine duties to be per¬ 
formed either daily or weekly, etc., and which might be other¬ 
wise overlooked by sending small reminders, written on slips of 
paper, to be placed in the tickler and returned to him at the 
proper time. Both the tickler and a thoroughly systematized 
messenger service should be immediately adjacent to this man 
in the planning room, if not directly under his management. 

271. The proper execution of this function of the planning room 
will relieve the superintendent of some of the most vexatious and 
time-consuming of his duties and at the same time the work will 
be done more thoroughly and cheaper than if he does it himself. 
By the adoption of standards and the use of instruction cards 
for overhauling machinery, etc., and the use of a tickler as above 
described, the writer reduced the repair force of the Midvale 
Steel Works to one-third its size while he was in the position 
of master mechanic. (There was no planning department, how¬ 
ever, in the works at that time.) 

272. L .—Messenger System and Post Office Delivery. 

The messenger system should be thoroughly organized and 
records kept showing which of the boys are the most efficient. 
This should afford one of the best opportunities for selecting 
boys fit to be taught trades, as apprentices or otherwise. 

273. There should be a regular half hourly post office delivery 
system for collecting and distributing routine reports and records 
and messages in no especial hurry throughout the works. 






1404 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


274. M .—Employment Bureau. 

The selection of the men who are employed to fill vacancies 
or new positions should receive the most careful thought and 
attention and should be under the supervision of a competent 
man who will inquire into the experience and especial fitness and 
character of applicants and keep constantly revised lists of men 
suitable for the various positions in the shop. In this section 
of the planning room an individual record of each of the men in 
the works can well be kept showing his punctuality, absence with¬ 
out excuse, violation of shop rules, spoiled work or damage to 
machines or tools, as well as his skill at various kinds of work; 
average earnings, and other good qualities, for the use of this 
department as well as the shop disciplinarian. 


275. N .—The Shop Disciplinarian. 

This man may well be closely associated with the employment 
bureau and, if the works is not too large, the two functions can 
be performed by the same man. The knowledge of character 
and of the qualities needed for various positions acquired in dis¬ 
ciplining the men should be useful in selecting them for employ¬ 
ment. This man should, of course, consult constantly with the 
various foremen and bosses, both in his function as disciplinarian 
and in the employment of men. 


276. O .—A Mutual Accident Insurance Association. 

A Mutual Accident Insurance Association should be estab¬ 
lished, to which the company contributes as well as the men. 
The object of this Association is twofold: First, the relief of men 
who are injured, and second, an opportunity of returning to the 
workmen all fines which are imposed upon them in disciplining 
them, and for damage to company’s property or work spoiled. 

277. P.—Push Order Department. j 

Hurrying through parts which have been spoiled or have de¬ 
veloped defects, and also special repair orders for customers, 
should receive the attention of one man. 




SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1405 


278. Q.— Improvement of System or Plant. 

One man should be especially charged with the work of im¬ 
provement in the system and in the running of the plant. 

279. This type of organization has such an appearance of com¬ 
plication- and there are so many new positions outlined in the 
planning room which do not exist even in a well managed estab¬ 
lishment of the old school, that it seems desirable to again call 
attention to the fact that, with the exception of the study of unit 
times and one or two minor functions, each item of work which 
is performed in the planning room with the superficial appear¬ 
ance of great complication must also be performed by the work¬ 
men in the shop under the old type of management, with its 
single cheap foreman and the appearance of great simplicity. In 
the first case, however, the work is done by an especially trained 
body of men who work together like a smoothly running ma¬ 
chine, and in the second by a much larger number of men very 
poorly trained and ill-fitted for this work, and each of whom 
while doing it is taken away from some other job for which he is 
well trained. The work which is now done by one sewing 
machine, intricate in its appearance, was formerly done by a 
number of women with no apparatus beyond a simple needle and 
thread. 

280. There is no question that the cost of production is lowered 
by separating the work of planning and the brain work as much as 
possible from the manual labor. When this is done, however, it 
is evident that the brain workers must be given sufficient work to 
keep them fully busy all the time. They must not be allowed to 
stand around for a considerable part of their time waiting for 
their particular kind of work to come along, as is so frequently 
the case. 

281. The belief is almost universal among manufacturers that 
for economy the number of brain workers (or non-producers, as 
they are called) should be as small as possible in proportion to the 
number of producers (i.e .—those who actually work with their 
hands). An examination of the most successful establishments 
will, however, show that the reverse is true. A number of years 
aero the writer made a careful study of the proportion of pro- 
ducers to non-producers in three of the largest and most success¬ 
ful companies in the world, who were engaged in doing the same 
work in a general way. One of these companies was in France, 


1406 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


one in Germany, and one in the United States. Being to a 
certain extent rivals in business and situated in different 
countries, naturally neither one had anything to do with the 
management of the other; and in the course of his investigation, 
the writer found that the managers had never even taken the 
trouble to ascertain the exact proportion of non-producers to pro¬ 
ducers in their respective works; so that the organization of each 
company was an entirely independent evolution. 

2S2. By “ non-producers,” the writer means such employees as 
all of the general officers, the clerks, foremen, gang bosses, watch¬ 
men, messenger boys, draftsmen, salesmen, etc.; and by “ pro¬ 
ducers,” only those who actuallv work with their hands. 

In the French and German works there was found to be in 
each case one non-producer to between six and seven producers, 
and in the American works one non-producer to about seven 
producers. The writer found that in the case of another works, 
doing the same kind of business and whose management was 
notoriously bad, the proportion of non-producers to producers 
was one non-producer to about eleven producers. These companies 
all had large forges, foundries, rolling mills and machine shops 
turning out a miscellaneous product, much of which was ma¬ 
chined. They turned out a highly wrought, elaborate and exact 
finished product, and did an extensive engineering and miscel¬ 
laneous machine construction business. 

283. In the case of a company doing a manufacturing business 
with a uniform and simple product for the maximum economy, the 
number of producers to each non-producer would of course be 
larger. !No manager need feel alarmed then when he sees the 
number of non-producers increasing in proportion to producers, 
providing the non-producers are busy all of their time, and pro¬ 
viding, of course, that in each case they are doing efficient work. 

284. It would seem almost unnecessary to dwell upon the desir¬ 
ability of standardizing, not only all of the tools, appliances and 
implements throughout the works and office, but also the methods 
to be used in the multitude of small operations which are repeated 
day after day. There are many good managers of the old school, 
however, who feel that this standardization is not only unneces¬ 
sary but that it is undesirable, their principal reason being that 
it is better to allow each workman to develop his individuality 
by choosing the particular implements and methods which suit 
him best. -And there is considerable weight in this contention 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1407 


when the scheme of management is to allow each workman to do 
the work as he pleases and hold him responsible for results. Un¬ 
fortunately, in ninety-nine out of a hundred such cases only the 
brst part of this plan is carried out. The workman chooses his 
own methods and implements, but is not held in any strict sense 
accountable unless the quality of the work is so poor or the 
quantity turned out is so small as to almost amount to a scandal. 
In the type of management advocated by the writer, this com¬ 
plete standardization of all details and methods is not only desir¬ 
able but alsolutely indispensable as a preliminary to specifying 
the time in which each operation shall be done, and then insisting 
that it shall be done within the time allowed. 

285. Neglecting to take the time and trouble to thoroughly 
standardize all of such methods and details is one of the chief 
causes for setbacks and failure in introducing this system. Much 
better results can be attained, even if poor standards be adopted, 
than can be reached if some of a given class of implements are tho 
best of their kind while others are poor. It is uniformity that is 
required. Better have them uniformly second class than mainly 
first with some second and some third class thrown in at random. 
In the latter case the workmen will almost always adopt the pace 
which conforms to the third class instead of the first or second. 
In fact, however, it is not a matter involving any great expense 
or time to select in each case standard implements which shall be 
nearly the best or the best of their kinds. The writer has never 
failed to make enormous gains in the economy of running by the 
adoption of standards. 

28G. It was in the course of making a series of experiments with 
various air hardening tool steels with a view to adopting a 
standard for the Bethlehem works that Mr. White, together with 
the writer, discovered the Taylor-White process of treating tool 
steel, which marks a distinct improvement in the art; and the 
fact that this improvement was made not by manufacturers of 
tool sieel but in the course of the adoption of standards, shows 
both the necessity and fruitfulness of methodical and careful in¬ 
vestigation in the choice of much neglected details. The econ¬ 
omy to be gained through the adoption of uniform standards is 
hardly realized at all by the managers of this country. No better 
illustration of this fact is needed than that of the present con¬ 
dition of the cutting tools used throughout the machine shops of 
the United States. Hardly a shop can be found in which tools 
90 


1408 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


made from a dozen different qualities of steel are not used side 
by side, in many cases with little or no means of telling one make 
from another; and in addition, the shape of the cutting edge of 
the tool is in most cases left to the fancy of each individual work¬ 
man. When one realizes that the cutting speed of the best 
treated air hardening steel is for a given depth of cut, feed and 
quality of metal being cut, say sixty feet per minute, while with 
the same shaped tool made from the best carbon tool steel and 
with the same conditions, the cutting speed will be only twelve 
feet per minute, it becomes apparent how little the necessity for 
rigid standards is appreciated. 

287. As another illustration: The machines of the country are 
still driven by belting. The motor drive, while it is coming, is 
still in the future. There is not one establishment in one hundred 
that does not leave the care and tightening of the belts to the judg¬ 
ment of the individual who runs the machine, although it is well 
known to all who have given any study to the subject that the 
most skilled machinist cannot properly tighten a belt without the 
use of belt clamps fitted with spring balances to properly register 
the tension. And the writer showed in a paper presented to this 
Society in 1893, giving the results of an experiment tried on all 
of the belts in a machine shop and extending through nine years, 
in which every detail of the care and tightening and tension of 
each belt was recorded, that belts properly cared for according 
to a standard method by a trained laborer would average twice 
the pulling power and only a fraction of the interruptions to 
manufacture of those tightened according to the usual methods. 
The loss now going on throughout the country from failure to 
adopt and maintain standards for all small details is simply enor¬ 
mous. 

It is, however, a good sign for the future that a firm such as 
Messrs. Dodge & Day of Philadelphia, who are making a spe¬ 
cialty of standardizing machine shop details, find their time fully 
occupied. 

288. What may be called the “ Exception Principle ” in man¬ 
agement is coming more and more into use; although like many of 
the other elements of this art, it is used in isolated cases, and in 
most instances without recognizing it as a principle which should 
extend throughout the entire field. It is not an uncommon sight, 
though a sad one, to see the manager of a large business fairly 
swamped at his desk with an ocean of letters and reports, on each 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1409 


of which he thinks that he should put his initial or stamp. He 
feels that by having this mass of detail pass over his desk he is 
keeping in close touch with the entire business. The exception 
principle is directly the reverse of this. Under it the manager 
should receive only condensed, summarized, and invariably com¬ 
parative reports, covering, however, all of the elements entering 
into the management, and even these summaries should all be 
carefully gone over by an assistant before they reach the man¬ 
ager, and have all of the exceptions to the past averages or to the 
standards pointed out, both the especially good and especially bad 
exceptions, thus giving him in a few minutes a full view of prog¬ 
ress which is being made, or the reverse, and leaving him free to 
consider the broader lines of policy and to study the character 
and fitness of the important men under him. The exception 
principle can be applied in many ways, and the writer will 
endeavor to give some further illustrations of it later. 

289. The writer has dwelt at length upon the desirability of 
concentrating as much as possible clerical and brain work in the 
planning department. There is, however, one such important 
exception to this rule that it would seem desirable to call atten¬ 
tion to it. As already stated, the planning room gives its orders 
and instructions to the men mainly in writing, and of necessity 
must also receive prompt and reliable written returns and reports 
which shall enable its members to issue orders for the next move¬ 
ment of each piece, lay out the work for each man for the follow¬ 
ing day, properly post the balance of work and materials accounts, 
enter the records on cost accounts and also enter the time and pay 
of each man on the pay sheet. There is no question that all of 
this information can be given both better and cheaper by the 
workman direct than through the intermediary of a walking time 
keeper, providing the proper instruction and report system has 
been introduced in the works with carefully ruled and printed 
instruction and return cards, and particularly providing a com¬ 
plete Mnemonic system of symbols has been adopted so as to save 
the workmen the necessity of doing much writing. The principle 
to which the writer wishes to call particular attention is that the 
only way in which workmen can be induced to Avrite out all of 
this information accurately and promptly is by having each man 
write his own time while on day work and pay when on piece 
work on the same card on which he is to enter the other desired 
information, and then refusing to enter his pay on the pay sheet 


1410 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


until after all of the required information has been correctly 
given by him. Under this system as soon as a workman com¬ 
pletes a job and at quitting time, whether the job is completed or 
not, he writes on a printed time card all of the information 
needed by the planning room in connection with that job, signs it 
and forwards it at once to the planning room. On arriving in 
the planning room each time card passes through the order of 
work or route clerk, the balance clerk, the cost clerk, etc., on its 
way to the pay sheet, and unless the workman has written the 
desired information the card is sent back to him, and he is apt to 
correct and return it promptly so as to have his pay entered up. 
The principle is clear that if one wishes to have routine clerical 
work done promptly and correctly it should somehow be attached 
to the pay card of the man who is to give it. This principle, of 
course, applies to the information desired from inspectors, gang 
bosses and others as well as workmen, and to reports required 
from various clerks. In the case of reports, a pay coupon can be 
attached to the report which will be detached and sent to the pay 
sheet as soon as the report has been found correct. 

290. Before starting to make any radical changes leading to¬ 
ward an improvement in the system of management, it is desir¬ 
able, and for ultimate success in most cases necessary, that the 
directors and the important owners of an enterprise shall be 
made to understand, at least in a general way, what is involved in 
the change. They should be informed of the leading objects 
which the new system aims at, such, for instance, as rendering 
mutual the interests of employer and employee through “ high 
wages and a low labor cost,’’ the gradual selection and develop¬ 
ment of a body of first class picked workmen who will work extra 
hard and receive extra high wages and be dealt with individually 
instead of in masses; and that this can only be accomplished 
through the adoption of precise and exact methods, and having 
each smallest detail, both as to methods and appliances, carefully 
selected so as to be the best of its kind. They should understand 
the general philosophy of the system and should see that, as a 
whole, it must be in harmony with its few leading ideas, and that 
principles and details which are admirable in one type of man¬ 
agement have no place whatever in another. They should be 
shown that it pays to employ an especial corps to introduce a new 
system just as it pays to employ especial designers and workmen 
to build a new plant; that, while a new system is being intro- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1411 


duced, almost twice the number of foremen are required as are 
needed to run it after it is in; that all of this costs money, but 
that, unlike a new plant, returns begin to come in almost from 
the start from improved methods and appliances as they are 
introduced, and that in most cases the new system more than pays 
for itself as it goes along; that time, and a great deal of time, 
is involved in a radical change in management, and that in the 
case of a large works if they are incapable of looking ahead and 
patiently waiting for from two to four years, they had better leave 
things just as they are, since a change of system involves a change 
in the ideas, point of view and habits of many men with strong con¬ 
victions and prejudices, and that this can only be brought about 
slowly and chiefly through a series of object lessons, each of which 
takes time, and through continued reasoning; and that for this rea¬ 
son, after deciding to adopt a given type, the necessary steps should 
be taken as fast as possible, one after another, for its introduction. 
They should be convinced that an increase in the proportion of 
non-producers to producers means increased economy and not red 
tape, providing the non-producers are kept busy at their respec¬ 
tive functions. They should be prepared to lose some of their 
valuable men who cannot stand the change and also for the con¬ 
tinued indignant protest of many of their old and trusted em¬ 
ployees who can see nothing but extravagance in the new ways 
and ruin ahead. It is a matter of the first importance that, in 
addition to the directors of the company, all of those connected 
with the management should be given a broad and comprehensive 
view of the general objects to be attained and the means which 
will be employed. They should fully realize before starting on 
their work and should never lose sight of the fact that the great 
object of the new organization is to bring about two momentous 
changes in the men: 

291. First. A complete revolution in their mental attitude to¬ 
ward their employers and their work; and 

Second. As a result of this change of feeling such an increase 
in their determination and physical activity, and such an im¬ 
provement in the conditions under which the work is done as will 
result in many cases in their turning out from two to three times 
as much work as they have done in the past. 

292. First, then, they must be brought to see that the new sys¬ 
tem changes their employers from antagonists to friends who are 
working as hard as possible side by side with them, all pushing 


1412 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


in the same direction and all helping to bring about such an in¬ 
crease in the output and to so cheapen the cost of production that 
the men will be paid permanently from thirty to one hundred 
per cent, more than they have earned in the past, and that there 
will still be a good profit left over for the company. At first 
workmen cannot see why, if they do twice as much work as they 
have done, they should not receive twice the wages. When the 
matter is properly explained to them and they have time to think 
it over, they will see that in most cases the increase in output is 
quite as much due to the improved appliances and methods, to 
the maintenance of standards and to the great help which they 
receive from the men over them as to their own harder work; 
and they will realize that the company must pay. for the introduc¬ 
tion of the improved system, which costs sometimes thousands 
of dollars, and also the salaries of the additional foremen and 
of the clerks, etc., in the planning room as well as tool room and 
other expenses, and that, in addition, the company is entitled to 
an increased profit quite as much as they are. All but a few of 
them will come to understand in a general way that under the 
new order of things they are co-operating with their employers 
to make as great a saving as possible and that they will receive 
permanently their fair share of this gain. 

203. Second. After the men acquiesce in the new order of 
things and are willing to do their part toward cheapening produc¬ 
tion, it will take time for them to change from their old easy-going 
ways to a higher rate of speed, and to learn to stay steadily at 
their work, think ahead and. make every minute count. A 
certain percentage of them, with the best of intentions, will fail 
in this and find that they have no place in the new organization, 
while still others, and among them some of the best workers who 
are, however, either stupid or stubborn, can never be made to 
see that the new system is as good as the old; and these, too, 
must drop out. Let no one imagine, however, that this great 
change in the mental attitude of the men and the increase in 
their activity can be brought about by merely talking to them. 
Talking will be most useful (in fact indispensable), and no oppor¬ 
tunity should be lost of explaining matters to them patiently, one 
man at a time, and giving them every chance to express their 
views. 

294. Their real instruction, however, must come through a se¬ 
ries of object lessons. Theymust be convinced that a great increase 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1413 


in speed is possible by seeing here and there a man among them 
increase his pace and double or treble his output. They must 
see this pace maintained until they are convinced that it is not 
a mere spurt; and, most important of all, they must see the men 
who get there ” in this way receive a proper increase in wages 
and become satisfied. It is only with these object lessons in 
plain sight that the new theories can be made to stick. It will 
be in presenting these object lessons and in smoothing away the 
difficulties so that the high speed can be maintained, and in assist¬ 
ing to form public opinion in the shop, that the great efficiency 
of functional foremanship under the direction of the planning 
room will first become apparent. 

295. In reaching the final high rate of speed which shall be 
steadily maintained, the broad fact should be realized that the men 
must pass through several distinct phases, rising from one plane of 
efficiency to another until the final level is reached. First they 
must be taught to work under an improved system of day work. 
Each man must learn how to give up his own particular way of 
doing things, adapt his methods to the many new standards and 
grow accustomed to receiving and obeying directions covering 
details large and small which in the past have been left to his 
individual judgment. At first the workmen can see nothing in 
all of this but red tape and useless and impertinent interference, 
and time must be allowed them to recover from their irritation, 
not only at this but at every stage in their upward march. If 
they have been classed together and paid uniform wages for each 
class, the better men should be singled out and given higher 
wages so that they shall distinctly recognize the fact that each 
man is to be paid according to his individual worth. After 
becoming accustomed to direction in minor matters, they must 
gradually learn to obey instructions as to the pace at which they 
are to work, and grasp the idea, first, that the planning depart¬ 
ment knows accurately how long each operation should take; and 
second, that sooner or later they will have to work at the required 
speed if they expect to prosper. After they are used to follow¬ 
ing the speed instructions given them, then one at a time they 
can be raised to the level of maintaining a rapid pace throughout 
the day. And it is not until this final step has been taken that 
the full measure of the value of the new system will be felt by 
the men through daily receiving larger wages, and by the com¬ 
pany through a materially larger output and lower cost of pro- 



1414 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


duction. It is evident, of course, that all of the workmen in the 
shop will not rise together from one level to another. Those 
engaged in certain lines of work will have reached their final 
high speed while others have barely taken the first step. 1 he 
efforts of the new management should not be spread out thin 
over the whole shop. The;y should rather be focussed upon a 
few points, leaving the ninety and nine under the care of their 
former shepherds. After the efficiency of the men who are 
receiving especial assistance and training has been raised to the 
desired level, the means for holding them there should be per¬ 
fected, and they should never be allowed to lapse into their 
old ways. This will, of course, be accomplished in the most 
permanent way and rendered almost automatic, either through 
introducing “ task work with a bonus ” or the “ differential 
rate.” 

Before taking any steps toward changing methods the man¬ 
ager should realize that at no time during the introduction of the 
system should any broad, sweeping changes be made which seri¬ 
ously affect a large number of the workmen. It would be 
preposterous, for instance, in going from day to piece work to 
start a large number of men on piece work at the same time. 
Throughout the early stages of organization each change made 
should affect one workman only, and after the single man affected 
has become used to the new order of things, then change one man 
after another from the old system to the new, slowly at first, and 
rapidly as public opinion in the shop swings around under the 
influence of proper object lessons. Throughout a considerable 
part of the time, then, there will be two distinct systems of man¬ 
agement in operation in the same shop; and in many cases it rs 
desirable to have the men working under the new system man¬ 
aged by an entirely different set of foremen, etc., from those 
under the old. 

296. The first step, after deciding upon the type of organiza¬ 
tion, should be the selection of a competent man to take charge of 
the introduction of the new system; and the manager should 
think himself fortunate if he can get such a man at almost any . 
price, since the task is a difficult and thankless one and but few 
men can be found who possess the necessary information coupled 
with the knowledge of men, the nerve, and the tact required for 
success in this work. The manager should keep himself free as 
far as possible from all active part in the introduction of the new 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1415 


system. While changes are going on it will require his entire 
energies to see that there is no falling off in the efficiency of the 
old system and that the quality and quantity of the output is 
kept up. The mistake which is usually made when a change in 
system is decided upon is that the manager and his principal 
assistants undertake to make all of the improvements themselves 
during their spare time, with the common result that weeks, 
months and years go by without anything great being accom¬ 
plished. The respective duties of the manager and the man in 
charge of improvement, and the limits of the authority of the 
latter should be clearly defined and agreed upon, always bearing 
in mind that responsibility should invariably be accompanied by 
its corresponding measure of authority. 

The worst mistake that can be made is to refer to any part of 
the new system as being “ on trial.” Once a given step is decided 
upon, all parties must be made to understand that it will go 
whether any one around the place likes it or not. In making 
changes in system the things that are given a “ fair trial ” fail, 
while the things that “ must go,” go all right. 

297. To decide where to begin is a perplexing and bewildering 
problem which faces the reorganizer in management when he ar¬ 
rives in a large establishment. In making this decision, as in tak¬ 
ing each subsequent step, the most important consideration, which 
should always be first in the mind of the reformer, is “ what effect 
will this step have upon the workmen ? ” Through some means (it 
would almost appear some especial sense), the workman seems to 
scent the approach of a reformer even before his arrival in town. 
Their suspicions are thoroughly aroused, and they are on the 
alert for sweeping changes which are to be against their interests 
and which they are prepared to oppose from the start. The first 
changes, therefore, should be such as to allay the suspicions of 
the men and convince them by actual contact that the reforms 
are after all rather harmless. Such improvements, then as 
directly affect the workmen least should be started first. At the 
same time it must be remembered that the whole operation is of 
necessitv so slow that the new system should be started at as 
many points as possible, and constantly pushed as hard as pos¬ 
sible. A start can be made at once along all of the following 
lines: 

298. 1. The introduction of standards throughout the works 



1410 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


290. 2. The scientific study of “ unit times ” along several dif¬ 
ferent lines. 

300. 3. A complete analysis of the pulling, feeding power and 
the jiroper speeding of the various machine tools throughout the 
place with a view of making a slide rule for properly running 
each machine. 

% 

301. 4. The work of establishing the system of time cards by 
means of which ultimately all of the desired information will be 
conveyed from the men to the planning room. 

302. 5. Overhauling the stores issue and receiving system so as 
to establish a complete running balance of materials. 

303. 6. Ruling and printing the various blanks that will be re¬ 
quired for shop returns and reports, time cards, instruction cards, 
expense sheets, cost sheets, pay sheet, and balance records, store 
room, tickler and maintenance of standards, system and plant, 
etc., and starting such functions of the planning room as do not 
directly affect the men. 

304. If the works is a large one, the man in charge of introduc¬ 
ing the system should appoint a special assistant in charge of each 
of the above functions just as an engineer designing a new plant 
would start a number of draftsmen to work upon the various 
elements of construction. Several of these assistants will be 
brought into close contact with the men, who will in this way 
gradually get used to seeing changes going on and their sus¬ 
picion, both of the new men and the methods, will have been 
allayed to such an extent before any changes which seriously 
affect them are made, that little or no determined opposition on 
their part need be anticipated. The most important and difficult 
task of the organizer will be that of selecting and training the 
various functional foremen who are to lead and instruct the 
workmen, and his success mil be measured principally by his 
ability to mould and teach these men. They cannot be found, 
they must be made. They must be instructed in their new 
functions largely, in the beginning at least, by the organizer him¬ 
self; and this instruction, to be effective, should be mainly in 
actually doing the work. Explanation and theory mil go a little 
way, but actual doing is needed to carry conviction. To illus¬ 
trate: For nearly two and one-half years in the large shop of the 
Bethlehem Steel Company, one speed boss after another was in¬ 
structed in the art of cutting metals fast on a large motor-driven 
lathe which was especially fitted to run at any desired speed 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1417 


within a very wide range. The work done in this machine was 
entirely connected, either with the study of cutting tools or the 
instruction of speed bosses. It was most interesting to see these 
men, principally either former gang bosses or the best workmen, 
gradually change from their attitude of determined and positive 
opposition to that in most cases of enthusiasm for, and earnest 
support of, the new methods. It was actually running the lathe 
themselves according to the new method and under the most 
positive and definite orders that produced the effect. The writer 
himself ran the lathe and instructed the first few bosses. It 
required from three weeks to two months for each man. Per¬ 
haps the most important part of the gang boss’s and foreman’s 
education lies in teaching them to promptly obey orders and 
instructions received not only from the superintendent or some 
official high in the company, but from any member of the plan¬ 
ning room whose especial function it is to direct the rest of the 
works in his particular line; and it may be accepted as an un¬ 
questioned fact that no gang boss is fit to direct his men until 
after he has learned to promptly obey instructions received from 
any proper source, whether he likes his instructions and the in¬ 
structor or not, and even although he may be convinced that he 
knows a much better way of doing the work. The first step is 
for each man to learn to obey the laws as they exist, and next, 
if the laws are wrong, to have them reformed in the proper way. 

305. In starting to organize even a comparatively small shop, 
containing say from 75 to 100 men, it is best to begin by training 
in the full number of functional foremen, one for each function, 
since it must be remembered that about two out of three of those 
who are taught this work either leave of their own accord or 
prove unsatisfactory; and in addition, while both the workmen 
and bosses are adjusting themselves to their new duties, there 
are needed fully twice the number of bosses as are required to 
carry on the work after it is fully systematized. 

306. Unfortunately, there is no means of selecting in advance 
those out of a number of candidates for a given work who are 
likely to prove successful. Many of those who appear to have all 
of the desired qualities, and who talk and appear the best, will turn 
out utter failures, while on the other hand, some of the most un¬ 
likely men rise to the top. The fact is, that the more attractive 
qualities of good manners, education, and even special training and 
skill, which are more apparent on the surface, count for less in an 


1418 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


executive position than the grit, determination and bulldog endur¬ 
ance and tenacity that knows no defeat and comes up smiling to be 
knocked down over and over again. 

307. The two qualities which count most for success in this kind 
of executive work are grit and what may be called “ constructive 
imagination ”—the faculty which enables a man to use the few 
facts that are stored in his mind in getting around the obstacles 
that oppose, him, and in building up something useful in spite 
of them; and unfortunately, the presence of these qualities, 
together with honesty and common sense, can only be proved 
through an actual trial at executive work. As we all know, success 
at college, or in the technical school, does not indicate the presence 
of these qualities, even though the man may have worked hard. 
Mainly, it would seem, because the work of obtaining an education 
is principally that of absorption and assimilation; while that of 
active practical life, is principally the direct reverse, namely that 
of giving out. 

308. In selecting men to be tried as foremen, or in fact for any 
position throughout the place, from the day laborer up, one of 
two different types of men should be chosen, according to the 
nature of the work to be done. For one class of work, men 
should be selected who are too good for the job; and for the other 
class of work, men who are barely good enough. 

300. If the work is of a routine nature, in which the same oper¬ 
ations are likely to be done over and over again, with no great 
variety, and in which there is no apparent prospect of a radical 
change being made, perhaps through a term of years, even 
though the work itself may be complicated in its nature, a man 
should be selected whose abilities are barely equal to the task. 
Time and training will fit him for his work, and since he will be 
better paid than in the past, and will realize that he has been 
given the chance to make his abilities yield him the largest 
return—all of the elements for promoting contentment will be 
present; and those men who are blessed with cheerful dispositions 
will become satisfied and remain so. Of course, a considerable 
part of mankind is so born or educated, that permanent content¬ 
ment is out of the question. INTo one, however, should be influ¬ 
enced by the discontent of this daks. 

310. If the work to be done is of great variety—particularly 
if improvements in methods are to be anticipated—throughout 
the period of active organization the men engaged in systematiz- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1419 


ing should be too good for their jobs. For such work, men should 
be selected whose mental calibre and attainments will fit them, 
ultimately at least, to command higher wages than can be 
afforded on the work which they are at. It will prove a wise 
policy to promote such men, both to better positions and pay, 
when they have shown themselves capable of accomplishing 
results, and the opportunity offers. The results which these high- 
classed men will accomplish, and the comparatively short time 
which they will take in organizing, will much more than pay 
for the expense and trouble later on, of training other men, 
cheaper and of less capacity, to take their places. In many cases, 
however, gang bosses and men will develop faster than new posi¬ 
tions open for them. When this occurs, it will pay employers 
well to find them positions in other works, either with better pay, 
or larger opportunities; not only as a matter of kindly feeling and 
generosity toward their men, but even more with the object of 
promoting the best interests of their own establishments. For 
one man lost in this way, five will be stimulated to work to the 
very limit of their abilities, and will rise ultimately to take the 
place of the man who has gone, and the best class of men will 
apply for work where these methods prevail. But few em¬ 
ployers, however, are sufficiently broad-minded to adopt this 
policy. They dread the trouble and temporary inconvenience 
incident to training in new men. 

311. Our president, Mr. James M. Dodge, is one of the few 
men with whom the writer is acquainted who has been led by his 
kindly instincts, as well as by a far-sighted policy, to treat his 
employees in this way; and this, together with the personal 
magnetism and influence which belong to men of his type, has 
done much to render his shop one of the model establishments 
of the country, certainly as far as the relations of employer and 
men are concerned. 

312. 'On the other hand, this policy of promoting men and find¬ 
ing them new positions has its limits. No worse mistake can be 
made than that of allowing an establishment to be looked upon as 
a training school, to be used mainly for the education of many of 
its employees. All employees should bear in mind that each 
shop exists, first, last, and all the time, for the purpose of paying 
dividends to its owners. They should have patience, and never 
lose sight of this fact. And no man should expect promotion 
until after he has trained his successor to take his place. The 


1420 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


writer is quite sure that in his own case, as a young man, no one 
element was of such assistance to him in obtaining new oppor¬ 
tunities as the practice of invariably training another man to fill 
his position before asking for advancement. 

313. The first of the functional foremen to be brought into ac¬ 
tual contact with the men should be the inspector; and the whole 
system of inspection, with its proper safeguards, should be in 
smooth and successful operation before any steps are taken to¬ 
ward stimulating the men to a larger output; otherwise an in¬ 
crease in quantity will probably be accompanied by a falling off 
in quality. 

314. Xext choose for the application of the two principal func¬ 
tional foremen, viz., the speed boss and the gang boss, that portion 
of the work in which there is the largest need of, and opportunity 
for, making a gain. It is of the utmost importance that the 
first combined application of time study, slide rules, instruction 
cards, functional foremanship, and a premium for a large daily 
task should prove a success both for the workmen and for the 
company, and for this reason a simple class of work should be 
chosen for a start. The entire efforts of the new management 
should be centred on one point, and continue there until un¬ 
qualified success has been attained. 

315. When once this gain has been made, a peg should be put in 
which shall keep it from sliding back in the least; and it is here 
that the task idea with a time limit for each job will be found 
most useful. Under ordinary piece work, or the Towne-Halsey 
plan, the men are likely at any time to slide back a considerable 
distance without having it particularly noticed either by them or 
the management. With the task idea, the first falling off is 
instantly felt by the workman through the loss of his day’s bonus,, 
or his differential rate, and is thereby also forcibly brought to the 
attention of the management. 

316. There is one rather natural difficulty which arises when 
functional foremanship is first introduced. Men who were for¬ 
merly either gang bosses, or foremen, are usually chosen as func¬ 
tional foremen, and these men, when they find their duties re¬ 
stricted to their particular functions, while they formerly were 
called upon to do everything, at first feel dissatisfied. They think 
that their field of usefulness is being greatly contracted. This is, 
however, a theoretical difficulty, which disappears when they 
really get into the full swing of their new positions. In fact 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1421 


the new position demands an amount of special information, fore¬ 
thought, and a clear-cut, definite responsibility that they have 
never even approximated in the past, and which is amply suffi¬ 
cient to keep all of their best faculties and energies alive and 
fully occupied. It is the experience of the writer that there is a 
great commercial demand for men with this sort of definite 
knowledge, who are used to accepting real responsibility and 
getting results; so that the training in their new duties renders 
them more instead of less valuable. 

317. As a rule, the writer has found that those who were growl¬ 
ing the most, and were loudest in asserting that they ought to be 
doing the whole thing, were only one-half or one-quarter per¬ 
forming their own particular functions. This desire to do every¬ 
one’s else work in addition to their own generally disappears 
when they are held to strict account in their particular line, and 
are given enough work to keep them hustling. 

318. There are many people who will disapprove of the whole 
scheme of a planning department to do the thinking for the men, 
as well as a number of foremen to assist and lead each man in his 
work, on the ground that this does not tend to promote inde 1 
pendence, self-reliance and originality in the individual. Those 
holding this view, however, must take exception to the whole 
trend of modern industrial development; and it appears to the 
writer that they overlook the real facts in the case. 

319. It is true, for instance, that the planning room, and func¬ 
tional foremanship, render it possible for an intelligent laborer or 
helper in time to do much of the work now done by a machinist. 
Is not this a good tiling for the laborer and helper? He is given 
a higher class of work, which tends to develop him and gives him 
better wages. In the sympathy for the machinist the case of 
the laborer is overlooked. This sympathy for the machinist is, 
however, wasted, since the machinist, with the aid of the new 
system, will rise to a higher class of work which he was unable 
to do in the past, and in addition, divided or functional foreman- 
ship will call for a larger number of men in this class, so that 
men, who must otherwise have remained machinists all their 
lives, will have the opportunity of rising to a foremanship. 

320. The demand for men of originality and brains was never 
so great as it is now, and the modern subdivision of labor, instead 
of dwarfing men, enables them all along the line to rise to a 
higher plane of efficiency, involving at the same time more brain 


1422 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


work and less monotony. The type of man who was formerly 
a day laborer, digging dirt, is now for instance making shoes in a 
shoe factory, and dirt handling is done by Italians or Hungarians. 

321. After the planning room with functional foremanship has 
accomplished its most difficult task, of teaching the men how to 
do a full day’s work themselves, and also how to get it out of 
their machines steadily, then, if desired, the number of non¬ 
producers can be diminished, preferably, by giving each type of 
functional foreman more to do in his specialty; or in the case of 
a very small shop, by combining two different functions in the 
same man. The former expedient is, however, much to be 
j>referred to the latter. There need never be any worry about 
what is to become of those engaged in systematizing after the 
period of active organization is over. The difficulty will still 
remain even with functional foremanship; that of getting enough 
good men to fill the positions, and the demand for competent 
gang bosses will always be so great that no good boss need look 
for a job. 

322. Of all the farces in management the greatest is that of an 
establishment organized along well planned lines, with all of the 
elements needed for success, and yet which fails to get either 
output or economy. There must be some man or men present in 
the organization who will not mistake the form for the essence, 
and who will have brains enough to find out those of their em¬ 
ployees who “ get there,” and nerve enough to make it unpleas¬ 
ant for those who fail, as well as to reward those who succeed. 
Ho system can do away with the need of real men. Both system 
and good men are needed, and after introducing the best system, 
success will be in proportion to the ability, consistency and re¬ 
spected authority of the management. 

323. In a paper of this sort, it ^vould be manifestly improper to 
discuss all of the details which go toward making the system a 
success. Some of them are of such importance as to render at 
least a brief reference to them necessary. And first among these 
comes the study of “ unit times.” 

324. This, as already explained, is the most important element 
of the system advocated by the writer. Without it, the definite, 
clear-cut directions given to the workman, and the assigning of a 
full, yet just, daily task, with its premium for success, w r ould be 
impossible; and the arch without the keystone would fall to the 
ground. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1423 


325. In 1883, while foreman of the machine shop of the Mid¬ 
vale Steel Company of Philadelphia, it occurred to the writer that 
it was simpler to time with a stop watch each of the elements of 
the various kinds of work done in the place, and then find the 
quickest time in which each job could be done by summing up the 
total times of its component parts, than it was to search through 
the time records of former jobs and guess at the proper time and 
price. After practising this method of time study himself for 
about a year, as well as circumstances would permit, it became 
evident that the system was a success. The writer then established ' 
the time-study and rate-fixing department, which has given out 
piece work prices in the place ever since. 

326. This department far more than paid for itself from the 
very start: but it was several years before the.full benefits of the 
system were felt, owing to the fact that the best methods of making 
and recording time observations, as well as of determining the 
maximum capacity of each of the machines in the place, and of 
making working tables and time tables, were not at first adopted. 

327. It has been the writer’s experience that the difficulties of 
scientific time study are underestimated at first, and greatly over¬ 
estimated after actually trying the work for two or three months. 
The average manager, who decides to undertake the study of 
“ unit times ” in his works, fails at first to realize that he is start¬ 
ing a new art or trade. He understands, for instance, the diffi¬ 
culties which he would meet with in establishing a drafting room, 
and would look for but small results at first, if he were to give a 
bright man the task of making drawings who had never worked 
in a drafting room, and who was not even familiar with drafting 
implements and methods, but he entirely underestimates the diffi¬ 
culties of this new trade. 

328. The art of studying “ unit times ” is quite as important 
and as difficult as that of the draftsman. It should be undertaken 
seriously, and looked upon as a profession. It has its own peculiar 
implements and methods, without the use and understanding of 
which progress will necessarily be slow, and in the absence of 
which there will be more failures than successes scored at first. 

329. When, on the other hand, an energetic, determined man 
goes at “ time study ” as if it were his life’s work, with the deter¬ 
mination to succeed, the results which he can secure are little short 
of astounding. The difficulties of the task will be felt at once, and 
so strongly by any one who undertakes it, that it seems important 

91 



1424 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


to encourage the beginner by giving at least one illustration of 
what has been accomplished. 

330. Mr. Sanford E. Thompson, C.E., of Newton Highlands, 
Mass., started in 1896 with but small help from the writer, except 
as far as the implements and methods are concerned, to study the 
time required to do all kinds of work in the building trades. In six 
years he has made a complete study of eight of the most important 
trades—excavation, masonry, bricklaying (including sewer-work 
and paving), carpentry, concrete and cement work, lathing and 
plastering, slating and roofing and rock quarrying. He took every 
stop watch observation himself, and then with the aid of two 
comparatively cheap assistants, worked up and tabulated all of his 
data ready for the printer. The magnitude of this undertaking 
will be appreciated when it is understood that the tables and 
descriptive matter for one of these trades alone take up about 250 
pages. Mr. Thompson and the writer are both engineers, but 
neither of us was especially familiar with the above trades and 
this work could not have been accomplished in a lifetime without 
the study of elementary units with a stop watch. 

331. In the course of this work, Mr. Thompson has developed 
what are in mauy respects the best implements in use, and with his 
permission some of them will be described. The blank form or 
note sheet used by Mr. Thompson, shown in Fig. 293, contains 
essentially: 

(1) Space for the description of the work and notes in regard to 
it. 

(2) A place for recording the total time of complete operations 
—that is, the gross time including all necessary delays, for doin<>- 
a whole job or large portions of it. 

(3) Lines for setting down the “ Detail Operations,” or “ units ” 
into which any piece of work may be divided, followed by columns 
for entering the averages obtained from the observations. 

(4) Squares for recording the readings of the stop watch when 
observing the times of these elements. (If these squares are tilled, 
additional records can be entered on the back.) The size of the 
sheets, which should be of best quality ledger paper, is 8J inches 
wide by < inches long, and by folding in the centre they can be 
conv eniently carried in the pocket, or placed in a case containing 
one or more stop watches. 

332. This case, or “ watch book/’ is another device of Mr. 
Thompson s. It consists of a frame work, containing concealed in 



SHOP MANAGEMENT 


1425 

































































































1426 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


it, one, two or three watches, whose stop and start movements can 
be operated by pressing with the fingers of the left hand upon the 
proper portion of the cover of the note-book without * the knowl¬ 
edge of the workman who is being observed. The frame is bound 
in a leather case resembling a pocket note-book, and has a place 



for the note sheets described. A sketch of this watch-book is 
shown in Fig. 294. The operation selected for illustration on 
the note sheet is the excavation of earth with wheelbarrows, and 
the values given are fair averages of actual contract work where 
the wheelbarrow man fills his own barrow. It is obvious that 
similar methods of analyzing and recording may be applied to 

* The writer does not believe at all in the policv of spying upon the workmnn 
when taking time observations for the purpose of time stud)\ If the men ob¬ 
served are to be ultimately affected by the results of these observations, it is 
generally best to come out openly, and let them know that they are being timed, 
and what the object of the timing is. There are many cases, however, in which 
telling the workman that he was being timed in a minute way would only result 
in a row, and in defeating the whole object of the timing ; particularly when 
only a few time units are to be studied on one man’s work, and when this man 
will not be personally affected by the results of the observations. In these cases, 
the w r atch book of Mr. Thompson, holding the watches in the cover, is especially 
useful. A good deal of judgment is required to know when to time openly, or 
the reverse. 



































SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1427 


work ranging from unloading coal to skilled labor on fine machine 
tools. 

333. The method of using the note sheets for timing a work¬ 
man is as follows: 

After entering the necessary descriptive matter at the top of 
the sheet, divide the operation to be timed into its elementary 
units, and write these units one after another under the heading 
“ Detail Operations.” (If the job is long and complicated, it may 



Fig. 295. 


be analyzed while the timing is going on, and the elementary units 
entered then instead of beforehand.) In wheelbarrow work as 
illustrated in the example shown on the note sheet (Fig. 293), 
the elementary units consist of “ filling barrow,” “ starting ” 
(which includes throwing down shovel and lifting handles of 
barrow), “ wheeling full,” etc. These units might have been 
further subdivided—the first one into time for loading one shovel¬ 
ful, or still further into the time for filling and the time for 
emptying each shovelful. 

334. The letters a, b, c, etc., which are printed, are simply for. 
convenience in designating the elements. 

335. We are now ready for the stop watch, which, to save cleri¬ 
cal work, should be provided with a decimal dial similar to that 
shown in Fig. 295. The method of using this and of recording 
the times depends upon the character of the time observations. In 
all cases, however, the stop watch times are recorded in the 
columns headed “ Time ” at the top of the right-hand half of the 
note sheet. These columns are the only place on the face of the 
sheet where stop-watch readings are to be entered. If more 













1428 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


space is required for these times, they should be entered on tlio 
back of the sheets. The rest of the figures (except those on the 
left-hand page, which may be taken from an ordinary timepiece) 
are the results of calculation, and may be made in the office by 
anv clerk. 

336. As has been stated, the method of recording the stop-watch 
observations depends upon the work which is being observed. If 
the operation consists of the same element repeated over and over, 
the time of each may be set down separately; or, if the element is 
very small, the total time of, say, ten may be entered as a frac¬ 
tion, with the time for all ten observations as the numerator, and 
the number of observations for the denominator. 

337. In the illustration, the operation consists of a series of ele¬ 
ments. In such a case, the letters designating each elementary unit 
are entered under the columns “ Op.,” the stop-watch is thrown to 
zero, and started as the man commences to work. As each new 
division of the operation (that is, as each elementary unit or “ unit 
time ”) is begun, the time is recorded. During any special delay 
the watch may be stopped, and started again from the same point, 
although, as a rule, Mr. Thompson advocates allowing the watch 
to run continuously, and enters the time of such a stop, designat¬ 
ing it for convenience by the letter “ Y.” 

338. In the case we are considering, two kinds of materials were 
handled—sand and clay. The time of each of the unit times, 
except the filling, is the same for both sand and clay; hence, if we 
have sufficient observations on either one of the materials, the 
only element of the other which requires to be timed is the load¬ 
ing. This illustrates one of the merits of the elementary system. 

339. The column “ Av.” is filled from the preceding column. 
The figures thus found are the actual net times of the different 
“ unit times.” These unit times are averaged and entered in the 
“ Time ” column, on the lower half of the right-hand page, pre¬ 
ceded, in the “ Ho.” column, by the number of observations which 
have been taken of each unit. These times, combined and com¬ 
pared with the gross times on the left-hand page, will determine 
the percentage lost in resting and other necessary delays. A con¬ 
venient method for obtaining the time of an operation, like pick¬ 
ing, in which the quantity is difficult to measure, is suggested bv 
the records on the left-hand page. 

340. The percentage of the time taken in rest and other neces¬ 
sary delays, which is noted on the sheet as, in this case, about 27 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1429 


per cent., is obtained by a comparison of the average net “time per 
barrow ” on the right with the “ time per barrow ” on the left. 
The latter is the quotient of the total time shovelling and wheeling 
divided by the number of loads wheeled. 

341. It must be remembered that the example given is simply 
for illustration. To obtain accurate average times, for any item 
of work under specified conditions, it is necessary to take observa¬ 
tions upon a number of men, each of whom is at work under con¬ 
ditions which are comparable. The total number of observations 
which should be taken of any one elementary unit depends upon 
its variableness, and also upon its frequency of occurrence in a 
day’s work. 

342. An expert observer can, on many kinds of work, time two 
or three men at the same time with the same watch, or he can oper¬ 
ate two or three watches—one for each man. A note sheet can 
contain only a comparatively few observations. It is not conveni¬ 
ent to make it of larger size than the dimensions given, when a 
watcli-book is to be used, although it is perfectly feasible to make 
the horizontal rulings 8 lines to the inch instead of 5 lines to the 
inch as on the sample sheet. There will have to be, in almost all 
cases, a large number of note sheets on the same subject. Some 
•system must be arranged for collecting and tabulating these re¬ 
cords. On Fig. 296 is shown a portion of the form or plate 
used for tabulating. The sketch shows for lack of space merely 
the left-hand end of the plate. The total length should be either 
16 or'22 inches. The height of the plate is 104 inches. With 
these dimensions a plate may be folded and filed with ordi¬ 
nary letter sheets (8 inches by 104 inches). The ruling which has 
been found most convenient is for the vertical divisions 3 columns 
to 1^ inches, while the horizontal lines are ruled 6 to the inch. 
The columns may, or may not, have printed headings. 

343. The data from the note sheet in Fig. 293 is copied on to 
the table for illustration. The first columns of the table are de¬ 
scriptive. The rest of them are arranged so as to include all of the 
“ unit times,” with any other data which are to be averaged or 
used when studying the results. Data upon only two elements 
are shown—that of “ loading barrow ” and “ starting ” ; the re¬ 
mainder are entered in a similar way in the columns which follow, 
and at the extreme right of the sheet (not shown) the gross times, 
including rest and necessary delay, are recorded and the per¬ 
centages of rest are calculated. 


1430 


SHOP MANAGEMENT 


a 

i 

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H 

BS 

Time 

per 

barrow, 

min. 

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Fig. 296. 













































SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1431 


344. Formulae are convenient for combining the elements. For 
simplicity, in the example of barrow excavation, each of the “ unit 
times ’ may be designated by the same letters used on the note 
sheet (Fig. 203) although in practice each element can best be 
designated by the initial letters of the words describing it. 

345. Let 

a = time filling a barrow with any material. 
b = time preparing to wheel. 
c = time wheeling full barrow 100 feet. 
d — time dumping and turning. 
e — time returning 100 feet with empty barrow. 
f = time dropping barrow and starting to shovel. 
p = time loosening one cubic yard with the pick. 

P — percentage of a da} 7 required for rest and necessary delays. 

L — load of a barrow in cubic feet;- 

B — time per cubic yard picking, loading and wheeling any given 
kind of earth to any given distance when the wheeler loads 
his own barrow. 


346. Then 


(. 


B — (p + &-\-b-\-d-{- t f-\- 



. . ( 1 ) 


347. This general formula for barrow work can be simplified by 
choosing average values for the constants, and substituting 
numerals for the letters now representing them. Substituting 
the average values from the note sheet on Fig. 293, our formula 
becomes: 



p + a + 0.18 + 0.17 + 0.16 + 


dist a nce hauled; ^ ^ + a26 ) 1.27, 

100 _J -L> J 


distance hauled 
100 


or 


/ 27\ 

B = (p + [a + 0.51 + (0.0048i distance hauled] j-j 1.27 . . (2) 








1432 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


348. Formula 2 is applicable to any kind of earth hauled by 
men working at the speeds recorded on the note sheet to any dis¬ 
tance. 

349. For sand, still using the values given on the notfe sheet 
(Fig. 1). 

t 

B — (o + [1.24 + 0.51 + 0.0048 (distance hauled)] 
or 

B = 25.86 + 0.071 (distance hauled).(3) 

For a 50-foot haul: 

B = 25.86 + 0.071 (50) = 29.4 min. as the time for one man to load 
and wheel one cubic yard of sand a distance of 50 feet. 

350. In classes of work where the percentage of rest varies 
with the different elements of an operation, it is most convenient 
to correct all of the elementary times by the proper percentages 
before combining them. Sometimes after having constructed a 
general formula, it may be solved by setting down the substitute 
numerical values in a vertical column for direct addition. 

351. On Fig. 297 is shown a table to illustrate times for 
throwing earth to different distances and different heights. It will 
be seen that for each special material the time for filling shovel re¬ 
mains the same regardless of the distance to which it is thrown. 
Each kind of material requires a different time for filling the 
shovel. The time throwing one shovelful, on the other hand, 
varies with the length of throw, but for any given distance it is the 
same for all of the earths. If the earth is of such a nature that it 
sticks to the shovel, this relation does not hold. For the elements 
of shoveling we have therefore: 


352. 

s = time filling shovel and straightening up ready to throw. 
t = time throwing one shovelful. 
w = time walking one foot with loaded shovel. 
w = time returning one foot with empty shovel. 

L = load of a shovel in cubic feet. 

P — percentage of a day required for rest and necessary delays. 
T — time for shovelling one cubic yard. 




SHOVELLING EARTH IN AVERAGE CONTRACT WORK. 

Earth Previously Loosened.—Volumes are Based on Measurement in Cut. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 1433 


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1434 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


353. Our formula, then, for handling any earth after it is-loos¬ 
ened, is: 

4 * 

# 


T = 



-f t + (w + w') distance carried] 



(1 + P)- 


354. Where the material is simply thrown without walking, the 
formula becomes: 

T = (Wo 5) (i + py 


355. If weights are used instead of volumes: 

m- i n- . ft ^ No. of lbs. in one ton\ M ™ 

1 ime shovelling one ton = ((s + t )— . , , -;-nrr (1 + ■*- )• 

° \ weight ot one shovelful/ 


356. The writer has found the printed form shown on Fig. 6 
useful in studying unit times in a certain class of the hand work 
done in a machine shop. This blank is fastened to a thin board 
held in the left hand and resting on the left arm of the observer. 
A stop-watch is inserted in a small compartment attached to the 
back of the board at a point a little above its centre; the face of the 
watch being seen from the front of the board through a small flap 
cut partly loose from the observation blank; while the watch is 
operated by the fingers of the left hand, the right hand of the 
operator is at all times free to enter the time observations on the 
blank. A pencil sketch of the work to be observed is made in the 
blank space on the upper left-hand portion of the sheet. In using 
this blank, of course, all attempt at secrecy is abandoned. 

357. The mistake usually made by beginners is that of failing 
to note in sufficient detail the various conditions surrounding the 
job. It is not at first appreciated that the whole work of the time 
observer is useless if there is any doubt as to even one of these 
conditions. Such items, for instance, as the name of the man or 
men on the work, the number of helpers, and exact description 
of all of the implements used, even those which seem unimportant, 
such, for instance, as the diameter and length of bolts and the 
style of clamps used, the weight of the piece upon which work is 
being done, etc. 

358. It is also desirable that, as soon as practicable after taking 
a few complete sets of time observations, the operator should be 
given the opportunity of working up one or two sets at least by 




Foldout Placeholder 


This foldout is being digitized and will be 
inserted at a future date. 































. 





























«; 






















SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1435 


summing up the unit times and allowing the proper per cent, of 
rest, etc., and putting them into practical use, either by comparing 
his results with the actual time of a job which is known to be done 
in fast time, or by setting a time which a workman is to live up to. 

359. The actual practical trial of the time students work is 
most useful, both in teaching him the necessity of carefully noting 
the minutest details, and on the other hand convincing him of the 
practicability of the whole method, and in encouraging him in 
future work. 

360. In making time observations, absolutely nothing should be 
left to the memory of the student. Every item, even those which 
appear self-evident, should be accurately recorded. The writer, 
and the assistant who innnediatelv followed him, both made the 
mistake of not putting the results of much of their time study into 
use soon enough, so that many time observations which extended 
over a period of months were thrown away in most instances be¬ 
cause of failure to note some apparently unimportant detail. 

361. It may be needless to state that when the results of time 
observations are first worked up, it will take far more time to pick 
out and add up the proper unit times, and allow the proper per¬ 
centages of rest, etc., than it originally did for the workman to 
do the job. This fact need not disturb the operator, however. It 
will be evident that the slow time made at the start is due to his 
lack of experience, and he must take it for granted that later 
many short-cuts can be found, and that a man with an average 
memory will be able with practice to carry all of the important 
time units in his head. 

w 362. Ho system of time study can be looked upon as a success 
unless it enables the time observer, after a reasonable amount of 
study, to predict with accuracy how long it should take a good man 
to do almost any job in the particular trade, or branch of a trade, 
to which the time student has been devoting himself. It is true 
that hardly any two jobs in a given trade are exactly the same, 
and that if a time student were to follow the old method of study¬ 
ing and recording the whole time required to do the various jobs 
which came under his observation, without dividing them into 
their elements, he would make comparatively small progress in a 
lifetime, and at best would become a skilful guesser. It is, how¬ 
ever e' ally true that all of the work done in a given'trade can 
be divid'd into a comparatively small number of elements or units, 
and that with proper implements and methods it is comparatively 



1436 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


easy for a skilled observer to determine the time required by a 
good man to do any one of these elementary units. 

363. Having carefully recorded the time for each of these ele¬ 
ments, it is a simple matter to divide each job into its elementary 
units, and by adding their times together, to arrive accurately at 
the total time for the job. The elements of the art which at first 
appear most difficult to investigate are the percentages which 
should be allowed, under different conditions, for rest and for 
accidental or unavoidable delays. These elements can, however, 
be studied with about the same accuracy as the others. 

364. Perhaps the greatest difficulty rests upon the fact that no 
two men work at exactly the sam£ speed. The writer has found it 
best to take his time observations on first-class men only, when 
they can be found; and these men should be timed when working 
at their best. Having obtained the best time of a first-class man, 
it is a simple matter to determine the percentage which an average 
man will fall short of this maximum. 

365. It is a good plan to pay a first-class man an extra price 
while his work is being timed. When workmen once understand 
that the time study is being made to enable them to earn higher 
wages, the writer has found them quite ready to help instead of 
hindering him in his work. The division of a given job into its 
proper elementary units, before beginning the time study, calls 
for considerable skill and good judgment. If the job to be observed 
is one which will be repeated over and over again, or if it is one of 
a series of similar jobs which form an important part of the stand¬ 
ard work of an establishment, or of the trade which is being 
studied, then it is best to divide the job into elements which are 
rudimentary. In some cases this subdivision should be carried to 
a point which seems at first glance almost absurd. 

366. Tor example, in the case of the study of the art of shovel¬ 
ling earths, referred to in the table Fig. 5, it will be seen that 
handling a shovelful of dirt is subdivided into, 

s = “ Time filling shovel and straightening up ready to throw,” 
and 

t = “ Time throwing one shovelful.” 

367. The first impression is that this minute subdivision of the 
work into elements, neither of which takes more than five or six 
seconds to perform, is little short of preposterous; yet if a rapid 
and thorough time study of the art of shovelling is to be made, 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


U37 


this subdivision simplifies the work, and makes time study quicker 
and more thorough. 

368. The reasons for this are twofold: 

(1) In the art of shovelling dirt, for instance, the study of fifty 
or sixty small elements, like those referred to above, will enable 
one to fix the exact time for many thousands of complete jobs of 
shovelling, constituting a very considerable proportion of the entire 
art. 


(2) The study of single small elements is simpler, quicker, and 
more certain to be successful than that of a large number of 
elements combined. The greater the length of tune involved in a 
single item of time study, the greater will be the likelihood of 
interruptions or accidents, which will render the results obtained 
by the observer questionable or even useless. 

369. There is a considerable part of the work of most establish¬ 
ments that is not what may be called standard work, namely, that 
which is repeated many times. Such jobs as this can be divided 
for time study into groups, each of which contains several rudi¬ 
mentary elements. A division of this sort will be seen by referring 
to the data entered on face of card on Fig. 293. 

370. In this case, instead of observing, first, the “ time to fill a 
shovel/’ and then the time to “ throw it into a wheelbarrow,” etc., 
a number of these more rudimentary operations are grouped into 
the single operation of: a = Time filling a wheelbarrow with 
any material,” and studied as a whole. 

371. Another illustration of the degree of subdivision which is 
desirable will be found by referring to blank on Fig. 298. 

372. Where a general study is being made of the time required 
to do all kinds of hand work connected with and using machine 
tools, the items printed in detail should be timed singly. 

373. When some special job, not to be repeated many times, is 
to be studied, then several elementary items Can be grouped to¬ 
gether and studied as a whole, in such groups for example as. 


“ Getting job ready to set.” 
“ Setting work.” 

“ Setting tool.” 

“ Extra hand work.” 

“ Removing work.” 


And in some cases even these groups can be further condensed. 

374. An illustration of the time units which it is desirable to 


1438 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


sum up and properly record and index for a certain kind of lathe 
work is given in Fig. 299. 

375. The writer has found that when some jobs are divided into 
their proper elements, certain of these elementary operations are 
so very small in time that it is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain 
accurate readings on the watch. In such cases, where the work 
consists of recurring cycles of elementary operations, that is. 
where a series of elementary operations is repeated over and over 
again, it is possible to take sets of observations on two or more of 
the successive elementary operations Avhich occur in regular order, 
and from the times thus obtained to calculate the time of each 
element. An example of this is the work of loading pig iron on 
to bogies. The elementary operations or elements consist of: 

(1) Picking up a pig. 

(2) Walking with it to the bogie. 

(3) Throwing or placing it on the bogie. 

(4) Peturning to the pile of pigs. 

376. Here the length of time occupied in picking up the pig and 
throwing or placing it on the bogie is so small as to be difficult 
to time, but observations may be taken successively on the ele¬ 
ments in sets of three. We may, in other words, take one set of 
observations upon the combined time of the three elements num¬ 
bered 1, 2, 3; another set upon elements 2, 3, 4; another set upon 
elements 3, 4, 1, and still another upon the set 4, 1, 2. By alge¬ 
braic equations we may solve the values of each of the separate 
elements. 

377. If we take a cycle consisting of five (5) elementary opera¬ 
tions, a, b, c, d, e, and let observations be taken on three of them 
at a time, we have the equations: 

a + b + c = A 
b + c -f d — B 
c + d + e — C 
d -f- c -f- a — JD 
e + a + b — E 
A + B + C+D + £=S. 

378. We may solve and obtain: 

a = A + D — ^ S 
b=B + 

c = C + A - 1 8 
d = D + B — 
e == E+ C-\S. 




SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1439 


5 , 981 . 7 - 16-87 1500 . 

The Midvale Steel Co. 

Form D —124. Machine Shop,.18..- 

Estimates for Work on Lathes. 


OPERATIONS CONNECTED WITH PRE¬ 
PARING TO MACHINE WORK ON LATHES 
AND WITH REMOVING WORK TO FLOOR 
AFTER IT HAS BEEN MACHINED 


OPERATIONS. 


TIME IN 
MINUTES. 


Putting chain on, Work on Floor, 

“ “ Work on Centres, 

Taking off chain. Work on Floor, 
“ “ Work on Centres, 

Putting on Carrier, 

Taking off “ 

Lifting Work to Shears, 

Getting Work on Centres, 

Lifting W’k from Centres to Floor, 
Turning Work, end for end, 
Adjusting Soda Water, 

Stamping, 

Centre-punching, 

Trying Trueness with Chalk, 

“ ’ with Callipers, 

“ with Gauge, 

Putting in Mandrel, 

Taking out “ 

Putting in Plug Centres, 

“'aking out “ 

D utting in False Centres, 

"'aking out “ 

Titling on Spiders, 

"'aking off “ 
fitting on Follow Rest, 

Taking oft 

Putting on Face Plate. 

Taking off “ 

Putting on Chuck, 

Taking off “ 

Laying out. 

Changing Tools, 

Putting in Packing, 

Cut to Cut, 

Learning what is to be done, 
Considering how to Clamp, 

Oiling up. 

Cleaning Machine, 

Changing Time Notes, 

Changing Tools at Tool Room, 
Shifting Work, 

Putting on Former, 

Taking off “ 

Adjusting Feed, 

“ Speed, 

“ Poppet Head, 

“ Screw Cutting Gear, 


SIGNED. 


TOTAL, 


Name,. 

Sketch,.Number. 

Order,.Weight,. 

Metal,.Heat No.. 

Tensile Strength,:.Chem. Comp. 

D er Cent, of Stretch,. 

HARDNESS, Class. 


OPERATIONS CONNECTED WITH 
MACHINING WORK ON LATHES. 


OPERATIONS. 


Turning Feed In, 

it it 

“ Hand Feed, 

it it 

Boring Feed In, 

it t i 

“ Hand Feed, 

tt ii 

Starting Cut, 

i t it 

Finishing Cut, 

tt ti 

Fillet, 

it 
tt 

Collar, 

»t 

Facing, 

it 

Slicing, 

tt 

tt 

Nicking, 

11 

Centring, 

tk 

Filing, 

t» 

Using Emery Cloth, 


O 

c 


TOTAL 


Min¬ 

utes. 


Machining—Two Heads Used, 
“ —One Head Used, 
Hand Work, 

Additional Allowance, 


TOTAL TIME, 
HIGH RATE, 
LOW RATE. 


Remarks, 


Time actually taken, 


92 


Fig. 299. 







































































1440 


SHOT MANAGEMENT. 


370. The writer was surprised to find, however, that while in 
some cases these equations were readily solved, in others they were 
impossible of solution. My friend, Mr. Carl J. Barth, when the 
matter was referred to him, soon developed the fact that the num¬ 
ber of elements of a cycle which may be observed together is sub¬ 
ject to a mathematical law, which is expressed by him as follows: 

The number of successive elements observed together must be 
grime to the total number of dements in the cyde. 

380. FTamely, the number of elements in any set must contain 
no factors; that is, must be divisible by no numbers which are con¬ 
tained in the total number of elements. The following table is, 
therefore, calculated by Mr. Barth showing how many operations 
may be observed together in various cases. The last column gives 
the number of observations in a set which will lead to the deter¬ 
mination of the results with the minimum of labor. 


No. of Operations 
in the Cycle. 

No. of Operations that may be observed 
together. 

No. observed together that lead 
to a minimum of labor or is 
otherwise preferable. • 

3 

9 

/V 

2 

4 

3 

3 

5 

2, 3, or 4 

3 or 4 

6 

5 

5 

7 

2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 

4 or 6 

8 

3, 5, or 7 

5 or 7 

9 

2, 4, 5, 7, or 8 

5 or 8 

10 

3, 7, or 9 

7 or 9 

11 

2 , 3, 4, 5. 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 

5 or 10 

12 

5, 7, or 11 

7 or 11 


381. When time study is undertaken in a systematic way, it be¬ 
comes possible to do greater justice in many ways both to employ¬ 
ers and workmen than has been done in the past. For example, we 
all know that the first time that even a skilled workman does a job 
it takes him a longer time than is required after he is familiar 
with his work, and used to a particular sequence of operations. 
The practised time student can not only figure out the time in 
which a piece of work should be done by a good man, after he has 
become familiar with this particular job through practice, but he 
should also be able to state how much more time would be required 
to do the same job when a good man goes at it for the first time; 
and this knowledge would make it possible to assign one time 
limit and price for new work, and a smaller time apd price for 
the same job after being repeated, which is much more fair and 
just to both parties than the usual fixed price. 









SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1441 


382. As the writer has said several times, the difference be¬ 
tween the best speed of a first-class man and the actual speed of 
the average man is very great. One of the most difficult pieces 
of work which must be faced by the man who is to set the daily 
tasks is to decide just how hard it is wise for him to make the task. 
Shall it be fixed for a first-class man, and if not, then at what 
point between the first-class and the average ? 

383. One fact is clear, it should always be well above the per¬ 
formance of the average man, since men will invariably do better 
if a bonus is offered them than they have done without this in¬ 
centive. 

384. The writer has, in almost all cases, solved this part of the 
problem by fixing a task which required a first-class man to do his 
best, and then offering a good round premium. When this high 
standard is set it takes longer to raise the men up to it. But it 
is surprising after all how rapidly they develop. 

385. The precise point between the average and the first-class, 
which is selected for the task, should depend largely upon the la¬ 
bor market in which the works is situated. If the works were in a 


fine labor market, such, for instance, as that of Philadelphia, there 
is no question that the highest standard should be aimed at. If, 
on the other hand, the shop required a good deal of skilled labor, 
and were situated in a small country town, it might be wise to aim 


rather lower. There is a great difference in the labor markets of 
even some of the adjoining states in this country, and in one 
instance in which the writer was aiming at a high standard in 
organizing a works, he found it necessary to import almost all of 
his men from a neighboring state before meeting with success. 

386. Whether the bonus is given only when the work is done in 
the quickest time or at some point between this and the a\eiage 
time, in all cases the instruction card should state the best time in 
which the work can be done by a first-class man. There will then 
be no suspicion on the part of the men when a longer “ bonus 
time ” is allowed, that the time student does not really know the 
possibilities of the case. For example, the instruction card might 


read: 


Proper time. ^ minutes. 

Bonus given first time job is done... 108 minutes. 


387 It is of the greatest importance that the man who has 
charge of assigning tasks should be perfectly straightforward in all 



1442 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


of his dealings with the men. Neither in this nor in any other 
branch of the management should a man make any pretence of 
having more knowledge than he really possesses. He should 
impress the workmen with the fact that he is dead in earnest, and 
that he fully intends to know all about it some day; but he should 
make no claim to omniscience, and should always be ready to 
acknowledge and correct an error if he makes one. This combi¬ 
nation of determination and frankness establishes a sound and 
healthy relation between the management and men. 

388. There is no class of work which cannot be profitably sub¬ 
mitted to time study, by dividing it into its time elements, except 
such operations as take place in the head of the worker; and the 
writer has even seen a time study made of the speed of an average 
and first-class boy in solving problems in mathematics. Clerk work 
can well be submitted to time study, and a daily task assigned in 
work of this class which at first appears to be very miscellaneous 
in its character. 

389. One of the needs of modern management is that of litera¬ 
ture on the subject of time study. The writer quotes as follows 
from his paper on “ A Piece Pate System,” written in 1895 : 

390. “ Practically the greatest need felt in an establishment 
wishing to start a rate-fixing department is the lack of data as to 
the proper rate of speed at which work should be done. There are 
hundreds of operations which are common to most large establish¬ 
ments, yet each concern studies the speed problem for itself, and 
days of labor are wasted in what should be settled once for all, and 
recorded in a form which is available to all manufacturers. 

391. “ What is needed is a hand-book on the speed with which 
work can be done, similar to the elementary engineering hand¬ 
books. And the writer ventures to predict that such a book will 
before long be forthcoming. Such a book should describe the best 
method of making, recording, tabulating, and indexing time- 
observations, since much time and effort are wasted by the adop¬ 
tion of inferior methods.’ 7 

392. Unfortunately this prediction has not yet been realized. 
The writer’s chief object in inducing Mr. Thompson to undertake 
a scientific time study of the various building trades and to join 
him in a publication of this work was to demonstrate on a large 
scale not only the desirability of accurate time study, but the 
efficiency and superiority of the method of studying elementary 
units as outlined above. He trusts that his object may be realized 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1443 


and that the publication of this book may be followed by similar 
works on other trades and more particularly on the details of 
machine-shop practice, in which he is especially interested. 

393. As a machine shop has been chosen to illustrate the appli¬ 
cation of such details of modern management as time study, the 
planning department, functional foreinanship, instruction cards, 
etc., the description would be far from complete without at least 
a brief reference to the methods employed in solving the time 
problem for machine tools. 

394. The study of this subject involves the solution of four im¬ 
portant problems: 

395. First. The power required to cut different kinds of metals 
with tools of various shapes when using different depths of cut 
and coarseness of feed, and also the power required to feed the 
tool under varying conditions. 

396. Second. An investigation of the laws governing the cut¬ 
ting of metals with tools, chiefly with the object of determining the 
effect upon the best cutting speed of each of the following vari¬ 
ables : 

(a) The quality of tool steel and treatment of tools (be., in 
heating, forging and tempering them). 

(b) The shape of tool (be., the curve or line of the cutting 
edge, the lip angle and clearance angle). 

(c) The duration of cut or the length of time the tool is re¬ 
quired to last before being re-ground. 

(d) The quality or hardness of the metal being cut (as to its 

effect on cutting speed). 

(e) The depth of the cut. 

(f) The thickness of the feed or shaving. 

(g) The effect on cutting speed of using water or other cool¬ 
ing’ medium on the tool. 

397. Third. The best methods of analyzing the driving and 
feeding power of machine tools and, after considering theii limita 
tions as to speeds and feeds, of deciding upon the proper counter¬ 
shaft or other general driving speeds. 

398. Fourth. After the study of the first, second and third 
problems had resulted in the discovery of certain clearly defined 
laws, which were expressed by mathematical formulae, the last and 
most difficult task of all lay in finding a means for solving the 
entire problem which should be so practical and simple as to 
enable an ordinary mechanic to answer quickly and accurately 


1444 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


for each machine in the shop the question, “ What driving speed, 
feed and depth of cut will in each particular case do the work in 
the quickest time ? ” 

399. In 1881, in the machine shop of the Midvale Steel Com¬ 
pany, the writer began a systematic study of the laws involved in 
the first and second problems above referred to by devoting the en¬ 
tire time of a large vertical boring mill to this work with special 
arrangements for varying the drive so as to obtain any desired 
speed. The needed uniformity of the metal was obtained by 
using large locomotive tires of known chemical composition, 
physical properties and hardness, weighing from 1,500 to 2,000 
pounds. 

400. For the greater part of the past 22 years these experiments 
have been carried on, first at Midvale and later in several other 
shops, under the general direction of the writer, by his friends 
and assistants, six machines having been at various times espe¬ 
cially fitted up for this purpose. 

401. The exact determination of these laws and their reduction 
to formulae have proved a slow but most interesting problem; but 
by far the more difficult undertaking has been the development of 
the methods and finally the appliances (slide rules) for making 
practical use of these laws after they were discovered. 

402. In 1884 the writer succeeded in making a slow solution of 
this problem with the help of his friend, Mr. Geo. M. Sinclair, by 
indicating the values of these variables through curves and laying 
down one set of curves over another. Later my friend, Mr. H. 
L. Gantt, after devoting about 1^ years exclusively to this work, 
obtained a much more rapid and simple solution. It was not, 
however, until 1900, in the works of the Bethlehem Steel Com¬ 
pany, that Mr. Carl G. Barth, with the assistance of Mr. Gantt, 
and a small amount of help from the writer, succeeded in develop¬ 
ing a slide rule by means of which the entire problem can be 
accurately and quickly solved by any mechanic. And Messrs. 
Gantt and. Barth are now engaged in the thoroughly practical 
work of introducing these slide rules and the methods accompany¬ 
ing them into various machine shops. 

403. The difficulty from a mathematical standpoint of obtaining 
a rapid and accurate solution of this problem will be appreciated 
when it is remembered that nine independent variables enter 
into each problem, and that a change in any of these will affect 
the answer. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1445 


404. The writer hopes in the future to read a paper before this 
Society describing these laws and the method of their applica¬ 
tion; and he trusts that Mr. Barth may be induced to describe 
his application of the slide rule to this problem. 

405. I he instruction card can be put to wide and varied use. It 
is to the art of management what the drawing is to engineering, 
and, like the latter, should vary in size and form according to 
the amount and variety of the information which it is to convey. 
In some cases it should consist of a pencil memorandum on a 
small piece of paper which will be sent directly to the man re¬ 
quiring the instructions, while in others it will be in the form of 
several pages of typewritten matter, properly varnished and 
mounted, and issued under the check or other record svstem, so 
that it can be used time after time. A description of an instruc¬ 
tion card of this kind may be useful. 

406. After the writer had become convinced of the economy of 
standard methods and appliances, and the desirability of relieving 
the men as far as possible from the necessity of doing the plan¬ 
ning, while master mechanic at Midvale, he tried to get his assist¬ 
ant to write a complete instruction card for overhauling and 
cleaning the boilers at regular periods, to be sure that the inspec¬ 
tion was complete, and that while the work was thoroughly done, 
the boilers should be out of use as short a time as possible, and 
also to have the various elements of this work done on piece work 
instead of * by the day. His assistant, not having undertaken 
work of this kind before, failed at it, and the writer was forced to 
do it himself. He did all of the work of chipping, cleaning and 
overhauling a set of boilers and at the same time made a careful 
time study of each of the elements of the work. This time study 
showed that a great part of the time was lost owing to the con¬ 
strained position of the workman. Thick pads were made to 
fasten to the elbows, knees and hips; special tools and appliances 
were made for the various details of the work; a complete list of 
the tools and implements was entered on the instruction card, each 
tool being stamped with its own number for identification, and all 
were issued from the tool room in a tool box so as to keep them 
together and save time. A separate piece-work price was fixed 
for each of the elements of the job and a thorough inspection of 
each part of the work secured as it was completed. 

407. The instruction card for this work filled several typewrit¬ 
ten pages, and described in detail the order in which the operations 


1446 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


should be done and the exact details of each man’s work with the 
number of each tool required, piece work prices, etc. 

408. The whole scheme was much laughed at when it first went 
into use, but the trouble taken was fully justified, for the work war- 
better done than ever before, and it cost only eleven dollars to 
completely overhaul a set of 300 TI.P. boilers by this method, 
while the average cost of doing the same work on day work with¬ 
out an instruction card was sixty-two dollars. 

409. Regarding the personal relations which should be main¬ 
tained between employers and their men, the writer quotes as fol¬ 
lows from his paper written in 1895. Eight years of additional 
experience have only served to confirm and strengthen these 
views; and although the greater part of this time, in his work of 
shop organization, has been devoted to the difficult and delicate 
task of inducing workmen to change their ways of doing things he 
has never been opposed by a strike. 

410. “ There has never been a strike by men working under 
this system, although it has been applied at the Midvale Steel 
Works' for the past ten years; and the steel business has proved 
during this period the most fruitful field for labor organizations 
and strikes. And this notwithstanding the fact that the Midvale 
Company has never prevented its men from joining any labor 
organization. All of the best men in the company saw clearly 
that the success of a labor organization meant the lowering of 
their wages in order that the inferior men might earn more, and, 
of course, could not be persuaded to join. 

411. “ I attribute a great part of this success in avoiding strikes 
to the high wages which the best men were able to earn with the 
differential rates, and to the pleasant feeling fostered by this 
system; but this is by no means the whole cause. It has for years 
been the policy of that company to stimulate the personal ambition 
of every man in their employ by promoting them either in wages 
or position whenever they deserved it, and the opportunity came. 

412. “A careful record has been kept of each man’s good points 
as well as his shortcomings, and one of the principal duties of each 
foreman was to make this careful study of his men so that sub¬ 
stantial justice could be done to each. When men, throughout 
an establishment are paid varying rates of day-work wages accord¬ 
ing to their individual worth, some being above and some below 
the average, .it cannot be for the intrest of those receiving high 
pay to join a union with the cheap men. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1447 


413. “ No system of management, however good, should be ap¬ 
plied in a wooden way. The proper personal relations should al¬ 
ways be maintained between the employers and men; and even the 
prejudices of the workmen should be considered in dealing with 
them. 

414. u The employer who goes through his works with kid 
gloves on, and is never known to dirty his hands or clothes, and 
who either talks to his men in a condescending or patronizing way. 
or else not at all, has no chance whatever of ascertaining their real 
thoughts or feelings. 

415. “ Above all, is it desirable that men should be talked to on 
their own level by those who are over them. Each man should be 
encouraged to discuss any trouble which he may have, either in 
the works or outside, with those over him. Men would far rather 
even be blamed by their bosses, especially if the “ tearing out ” 
has a touch of human nature and feeling in it, than to be passed 
by day after day without a word, and with no more notice than 
if they were part of the machinery. 

416. “ The opportunity which each man should have of airing 
his mind freely, and having it out with his employers, is a safety- 
valve; and if the superintendents are reasonable men, and listen 
to and treat with respect what their men have to say, there is ab¬ 
solutely no reason for labor unions and strikes. 

417. “ It is not the large charities (however generous they may 
be) that are needed or appreciated by workmen so much as small 
acts of personal kindness and sympathy, which establish a bond of 
friendly feeling between them and their employers. 

418. “ The moral effect of this system on the men is marked. 
The feeling that substantial justice is being done them renders 
them on the whole much more manly, straightforward and truth¬ 
ful. They work more cheerfully, and are more obliging to one 
another and their employers. They are not soured, as under the 
old system, by brooding over the injustice done them; and their 
spare minutes are not spent to the same extent in criticising their 
employers. ” 

419. The writer has a profound respect for the working men ot 
this country. He is proud to say that he has as man\ him fiiends 
among them as among his other friends who were born in a differ¬ 
ent class, and he believes that quite as many men of fine character 
and ability are to be found among the former as in the latter. 
Being himself a college educated man, and having filled the van- 


1448 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


ous positions of foreman, master mechanic, chief draftsman, chief 
engineer, general superintendent, general manager, auditor and 
head of the sales' department, on the one hand, and on the other 
hand having been for several years a workman, as apprentice, 
laborer, machinist, and gang boss, his sympathies are equally di¬ 
vided between the two classes. 

420. He is firmly convinced that the best interests of workmen 
and their employers are the same; so that in his criticism of labor 
unions he feels that he is advocating the interests of both sides. 

421. “ He is far from taking the view held by many manufac¬ 
turers that labor unions are an almost unmitigated detriment to 
those who join them, as well as to employers and the general 
public. 

422. “The labor unions—particularly the trades unions of Eng¬ 
land—have rendered a great- service, not only to their members, 
but to the world, in shortening the hours of labor and in modifying 
the hardships and improving the conditions of wage-workers. 

423. “ In the writer’s judgment the system of treating with 
labor unions would seem to occupy a middle position among the 
various methods of adjusting the relations between employers and 
men. 

424. “ When employers herd their men together in classes, pay 
all of each class the same wages, and offer none of them any in¬ 
ducements to work harder or do better than the average, the onlv 
remedy for the men lies in combination; and frequently the only 
possible answer to encroachments on the part of their employers 
is a strike. 

•425. “ This state of affairs is far from satisfactory to either em¬ 
ployers or men, and the writer believes the system of regulating 
the wages and conditions of employment of whole classes of men 
by conference and agreement between the leaders of unions and 
manufacturers to be vastly inferior, both in its moral effect on the 
men and on the material interests of both parties, to the plan of 
stimulating each workman’s ambition by paying him according to 
his individual worth, and without limiting him to the rate of work 
or pay of the average of his class.” 

42G. The amount of work which a man should do in a day, what 
constitutes proper pay for this work, and the maximum number of 
hours per day which a man should work together form the most 
important elements which are discussed between workmen and 
their employers. The writer has attempted to show that these 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1449 


matters can be much better determined by the expert time student 
than by either the union or a board of directors, and he firmly 
believes that in the future scientific time-study will establish 
standards which will be accepted as fair by both sides. 

427. There is no reason why labor unions should not be so con¬ 
stituted as to be a great help both to employers and men. Un¬ 
fortunately, as they now exist they are in many, if not most, cases 
a hindrance to the prosperity of both. 

428. The chief reasons for this would seem to be a failure on 
the part of the workmen to understand the broad principles which 
affect their best interests as well as those of their employers. (It 
may be said, however, that employers as a whole are not much 
better informed nor more interested in this matter than their 
workmen.) 

429. One of the unfortunate features of labor unions as they 
now exist is that the members look upon the dues which they pay 
to the union, and the time that they devote to it, as an investment 
which should bring them an annual return, and they feel that 
unless they succeed in getting either an increase in wages or 
shorter hours every year or so, the money which they pay into 
the union is wasted. The leaders of the unions realize this and, 
particularly if they are paid for their services, are apt to spend 
considerable of their time scaring up grievances whether they 
.exist or not. This naturally fosters antagonism instead of friend¬ 
ship between the two sides. 

430. There are, of course, marked exceptions to this rule; that 
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers being perhaps the 
most prominent. 

431. The most serious of the delusions and fallacies under which 
workmen, and particularly those in many of the unions, aie suffei- 
ing is that it is for their interest to limit the amount of work which 
a man should do in a day. 

432. There is no question that the greater the daily output of 
the average individual in a trade the greater will be the average 
wages earned in the trade, and that in the long lun tinning out a 
large amount of work each day will give them higher wages, 
steadier and more work, instead of throwing them out of work. 
The worst thing that a labor union can do for its members in the x 
long run is to limit the amount of work which they allow each 
workman to do in a day. If their employers are in a competitive 
business, sooner or later those competitors whose workmen do not 


1450 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


limit the output will take the trade away from them, and they 
will be thrown out of work. And in the meantime the small day’s 
work which they have accustomed themselves to do demoralizes 
them, and instead of developing as men do when they use their 
strength and faculties to the utmost, and as men should do from 
year to year, they grow lazy, spend much of their time pitying 
themselves, and are less able to compete with other men. For¬ 
bidding their members to do more than a given amount of work 
in a day has been the greatest mistake made by the English trades 
unions. The whole of that country is suffering more or less from 
this error now. Their workmen are for this reason receiving 
lower wages than they might get, and in many cases the men, 
under the influence of this idea, have grown so slow that they 
would find it difficult to do a good day’s work even if public 
opinion encouraged them in it. 

433. In forcing their members to work slowly they use certain 
cant phrases which sound most plausible until their real meaning 
is analyzed. They continually use the expression, “ Workmen 
should not be asked to do more than a fair day’s work,” which 
sounds right and just until we come to see how it is applied. The 
absurdity of its usual application would be apparent if we were 
to apply it to animals. Suppose a contractor had in his stable a 
miscellaneous collection of draft animals, including small donkeys, 
ponies, light horses, carriage horses and fine dray horses, and a • 
law were to be made that no animal in the stable should be allowed 
to do more than “ a fair day’s work ” for a donkey. The injustice 
of such a law would be apparent to every one. The trades unions, 
almost without an exception, admit all of those in the trade to 
membership—providing they pay their dues. And the difference 
between the first-class men and the poor ones is quite as great as 
that between ^fine dray horses and donkeys (in the case of horses 
this difference is well known to every one; with men, however, it 
is not at all generally recognized). When a labor union, under 
the cloak of the expression “ a fair day’s work,” refuses to allow 
a first-class man to do anv more work than a slow or inferior work- 

e/ 

man can do, its action is quite as absurd as limiting the work of a 
fine dray horse to that of a donkey would be. 

434. Promotion, high wages, and, in some cases, shorter hours 
of work are the legitimate ambitions of a workman, but any 
scheme which curtails the output should be recognized as a device 
for lowering wages in the long run. 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1451 


435. Any limit to the Diaxinnum wages which men are allowed 
to earn in a trade is equally injurious to their best interests. 

4o6. r lhe minimum wage ” is the least harmful of the rules 
which aie generally adopted by trades unions, though it frequently 
works an injustice to the better workmen. For example, the 
writer has been used to having his machinists earn all the way 
from $1.50 to seven and eight dollars per day, according to the 
individual worth of the men. Supposing a rule were made that 
no machinist should be paid less than $2.50 per day. It is evi¬ 
dent that if an employer were forced to pay $2.50 per day to men 
who were only worth $1.50 or $1.7 5, in order to compete he would 
be obliged to lower the wages of those who in the past were getting 
more than $2.50, thus pulling down the better workers in order 
to raise up the poorer men. Men are not born equal, and any 
attempt to make them so is contrary to nature’s laws and will fail. 

437. Some of the labor unions have succeeded in persuading the 
people in parts of this country that there is something sacred in 
the cause of union labor and that, in the interest of this cause, the 
union should receive moral support whether it is right in any 
particular case or not. 

438. Union labor is sacred just so long as its acts are fair and 
good, and it is damnable just as soon as its acts are bad. Its rights 
are precisely those of non-union labor, neither greater nor less. 
The boycott, the use of force or intimidation, and the oppression of 
non-union workmen by labor unions are damnable; these acts of 
tyranny are thoroughly un-American and will not be tolerated by 
the American people. 

439. Some method of disciplining the men is unfortunately a 
necessary element of all systems of management. It is important 
that a consistent, carefully considered plan should be adopted for 
this as for all other details of the art. Ho system of discipline is 
at all complete which is not sufficiently broad to cover the great 
variety in the character and disposition of the various men to be 
found in a shop. 

440. There is a large class of men who require really no disci¬ 
pline in the ordinary acceptance of the term; men who are so sen¬ 
sitive, conscientious and desirous of doing just what is right that a 
suggestion, a few words of explanation, or at most a brotherly ad¬ 
monition is all that they require. In all cases, therefore, one 
should begin with every new man by talking to him in the most 
friendly way, and this should be repeated several times over until 


1452 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


it is evident that mild treatment does not produce the desired 
effect. 

441. Certain men are both thick-skinned and coarse-grained, 
and these individuals are apt to mistake a mild manner and a 
kindly way of saying things for timidity or weakness. With 
such men the severity both of words and manner should be 
gradually increased until either the desired result has been 
attained or the possibilities of the English language have been 
exhausted. 

442. Up to this point all systems of discipline should be alike. 
There will be found in all shops, however, a certain number of 
men with whom talk, either mild or severe, will have little or no 
effect, unless it produces the conviction that something more tan¬ 
gible and disagreeable will come next. The question is what this 
something shall be ? 

443. Discharging the men is, of course, effective as far as that 
individual is concerned, and this is in all cases the last step; but it 
is desirable to have several remedies between talking and dis¬ 
charging, more severe than the one and less drastic than the 
other. 

444. Uusually one or more of the following expedients are 
adopted for this purpose: 

First. Lowering the man’s wages. 

Second. Laying him off for a longer or shorter period of time. 

Third. Fining him. 

Fourth. Giving him a series of “ bad marks,” and when these 
sum up to more than a given number per week or month, applying 
one of the other of the first three remedies. 

445. The general objections to the first and second expedients is 
that for a large number of offenses they are too severe, so that the 
disciplinarian hesitates to apply them. The men find this out, 
and some of them will take advantage of this and keep much of 
the time close to the limit. In laying a man off, also, the em¬ 
ployer is apt to suffer as much in many cases as the man, through 
having machinery lying idle or work delayed. The fourth remedy 
is also objectionable because some men will deliberately take close 
to their maximum of “ bad marks.” 

446. In the writer’s experience, the fining system, if justly and 
properly applied, is more effective and much to be preferred to 
either of the others. He has applied this system of discipline in 
various works with uniform success for the past twenty years, and 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1453 


so far as lie knows, none of those who have tried it under his direc¬ 
tions have abandoned it. 

447. The success of the fining system depends upon two ele¬ 
ments : First, the impartiality, good judgment and justice with 
which it is applied. 

Second. Every cent of the fines imposed should in some form 
be returned to the workmen. If any part of the fines is retained 
by the company, it is next to impossible to keep the workmen from 
believing that at least a part of the motive in fining them is to 
make money out of them; and this thought works so much harm 
as to more than overbalance the good effects of the system. If, 
however, all of the fines are in some way promptly returned to 
the men, they recognize it as purely a system of discipline, and it 
is so direct, effective and uniformly just that the best men soon 
appreciate its value and approve of it quite as much as the com¬ 
pany. 

448. In many cases the writer has first formed a mutual bene¬ 
ficial association among the employees, to which all of the men as 
well as the company contribute. An accident insurance association 
is much safer and less liable to be abused than a general sickness 
or life insurance association; so that, when practicable, an associa¬ 
tion of this sort should be formed and managed by the men. All 
of the fines can then be turned over each week to this association 
and so find their way directly back to the men. 

449. Like all other elements,- the fining system should not be 
plunged into head first. It should be worked up to gradually and 
with judgment, choosing at first only the most flagrant cases for 
fining, and those offenses which affect the welfare of some of the 
other workmen. It will not be properly and most effectively ap¬ 
plied until small offenses as well as great receive their appropriate 
fine. The writer has fined men from one cent to as high as sixty 
dollars per fine. It is most important that the fines should be ap¬ 
plied absolutely impartially to all employees, high and low. The 
writer has invariably fined himself just as he would the men undei 

him for all offenses committed. 

450. The fine is best applied in the form of a request to con¬ 
tribute a certain amount to the mutual beneficial association, with 
the understanding that unless this request is complied with the 
man will be discharged. 

451. In certain cases the fining system may not produce the de¬ 
sired result, so that coupled with it as an additional means of dis- 


1454 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


ciplining the men, should be the first and second expedients of 
u lowering wages/’ and u laying the men off for a longer or shorter 
time.” 

452. The writer does not at all depreciate the value of the 
many semi-philanthropic and paternal aids and improvements, 
such as comfortable lavatories, eating rooms, lecture halls, and free 
lectures, night schools, kindergartens, baseball and athletic grounds, 
village improvement societies, and mutual beneficial associations, 
unless done for advertising purposes. These all tend to improve 
and elevate the workmen and make life better worth living. 
Viewed from the managers’ standpoint they are valuable aids in 
making more intelligent and better workmen, and in promoting 
a kindly feeling among the men for their employers. They are, 
however, of distinctly secondary importance, and should never be 
allowed to engross the attention of the superintendent to the detri¬ 
ment of the more important and fundamental elements of manage¬ 
ment. They should come in all establishments, but they should 
come only after the great problem of work and wages has been 
permanently settled to the satisfaction of both parties. The solu¬ 
tion of this problem will take more than the entire time of the 
management in the average case for several years. 

45b. Mr. Patterson, of the National Cash Register Company, 
of Dayton, Ohio, has presented to the world a grand object lesson 
of the combination of many philanthropic schemes with, in many 
respects, a practical and efficient* management. He stands out a 
pioneer in this work, and an example of a kind-hearted and truly 
successful man. Yet I feel that the recent strike in his works 
demonstrates all the more forcibly my contention that the estab- 
Jishment of the semi-philanthropic schemes should follow instead 
of preceding the solution of the wages question; unless, as is very 
rarely the case, there are brains, energy and money enough avail¬ 
able in a company to establish both elements at the same time. 

454. Unfortunately there is no school of management, there is 
not even a single establishment where a large part of the details of 
management can be seen, which represent the best of their kinds. 
The finest developments are for the most part isolated, and in 
many cases almost buried with the mass of rubbish which sur¬ 
rounds them. 

455. Among the many improvements for which the originators 
will probably never receive the credit which they deserve may be 
mentioned: 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1455 


45G. The remarkable system for analyzing all of the work upon 
new machines as the drawings arrived from the drafting-room 
and of directing the movement and grouping of the various parts 
as they progressed through the shop, which was developed and 
used for several years by Mr. Win. II. Thorne, of Win. Sellers 
& Co., of Philadelphia, while the company was under the gen-, 
eral management of Mr. J. Sellers Bancroft. Unfortunately 
the full benefit of this method was never realized owing to 
the lack of the other functional elements which should have 
accompanied it. 

457. The employment bureau which forms such an important 
element of the Western Electric Company in Chicago. 

458. The complete and effective system for managing the mes¬ 
senger boys introduced by Mr. Almon Emrie while superintendent 
of the Ingersoll Sargent Drill Company, of Easton, Pa. 

459. The Mnemonic system of order numbers invented by Mr. 
Oberlin Smith and amplified by Mr. Henry E. Towne, of the 
Yale & Towne Company, of Stamford, Conn. 

460. The system of inspection introduced by Mr. Clias. D. Eog- 
ers in the works of the American Screw Company, at Providence, 
E. I. 

461. The card system of shop returns invented and introduced 
as a complete system * by Captain Henry Metcalfe in the govern¬ 
ment shops of the Frankford Arsenal. The writer appreciates the 
difficulty of this undertaking as he was at the same time engaged 
in the slow evolution of a similar system in the Midvale Steel 
Works, which, however, was the result of a gradual development 
instead of a complete, well thought out invention as Avas that of 
Captain Metcalfe. 

462. The many good points in the apprentice system developed 
by Mr. Vauclain, of the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadel¬ 
phia. 

463. The writer is indebted to most of these gentlemen and to 
many others, but most of all to the Midvale Steel Company for 
elements of the system which he has described. 

464. The rapid and successful application of the general prin¬ 
ciples involved in any system will depend largely upon the adop¬ 
tion of those details which have been found in actual service to be 
most useful. There are many such elements which the writer 

* Described in " Cost of Manufactures” published by Wiley & Sons. 

93 



1456 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


feels should be described in minute detail. It would, however, be 
improper to burden the records of this Society with matters of 
comparatively such small importance. lie, therefore, hopes at 
some future time to publish a supplement discussing these 
elements. 


DISCUSSION. 

The Secretary. —I think it would be serviceable if Mr. Taylor 
would give details as to where the blanks could be obtained to 
which he refers in his paragraphs 330 and 331 for making avail¬ 
able a study of the principles which he has laid down. 

Mr. Taylor. —Mr. Sanford E. Thompson at Hewton High¬ 
lands, Mass., supplies all the apparatus connected with time-study 
which I have used. 

Mr. Henry It. Towne. —Industrial engineering and industrial 
management are steadily drawing closer together, and rapidly 
becoming complementary elements in the professional work of a 
large part of the membership of the Society. The initiative in 
the introduction of the subject of industrial management to the 
Meetings and Transactions of the Society was taken in 1889, since 
when the subject has been under discussion with increasing fre¬ 
quency and, I believe, with increasing interest. It comes legit¬ 
imately within the scope of the Society’s functions, and the 
tendencv to give it increased attention is to be welcomed. 

Mr. Taylor’s present paper is the most valuable contribution to 
this subject which has yet been made, and includes so complete a 
review as to constitute almost a history. It sets forth clearly and 
fairly the purposes sought, the methods which have been tried, 
and the results thus far accomplished. It should be appreciated 
and studied by everyone interested in the subject of industrial 
managenl^nt. 

The time needed to review it properly is not available to me at 
present, but I hope to be able to do so at a later date. Meantime 
I desire to record my appreciation of the praise accorded by Mr. 
Taylor to the “ Gain-Sharing ” system described in a paper which 
I contributed to the Transactions in 1889. I concur in his view 
that the “ Gain-Sharing ” system is not a complete solution of 
the problem, but I believe also that, under many conditions, it is 
the most feasible and effective plan available at present. I wish 
to call attention to one feature of it which Mr. Taylor does not 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1457 


mention, \iz., that in addition to offering a bonus for increased 
efficiency of labor, it offers an equal reward for economy in the 
use of materials, machinery and supplies. In many kinds of 

work these economies are only second in importance to economy 
in labor. 

^ I endorse strongly the high value placed by Mr. Taylor on the 

Conti act System in shop work. Probably the best and most 
comprehensive plan presently available as a basis of compensation 
for labor in organized manufacturing is the “ Contract System/' 
j)Ius piece work as a basis for compensation for the individual 
workman, plus Mr. Taylor's time unit or “ pacing " system as a 
basis for determining piece rates. Such a system is necessarily 
complex, and therefore entails expense to operate, but the results 
obtainable under it amply justify the expense involved. 

It is to be hoped that Mr. Taylor’s paper will bring out others 
relating to this subject, and that he will incorporate in another 
contribution to the Transactions the supplementary information 
to which he refers in the closing part of his present paper. 

Mr. F. F. Du Brut. —In the discussion of the questions’of shop 
management, raised by Mr. F. W. Taylor, let us not “ reckon with¬ 
out our host." To-day we must take into account a very important 
factor, and one which did not enter very largely into shop ques¬ 
tions until recent years: the factor of Unionism. 

From a close study of the development of Unionism and its 
manifestations,! cannot help feeling that anyone attempting to put 
in such systems as task work, bonus work, piece work, premium 
work or contract work will meet with more opposition in the future 
on the part of the Union workmen than has ever been met with in 
the past. The Machinists' Union, for instance, is socialistic; its 
journal is socialistic; its policy is socialistic. Moreover, it is 
stronger now than it ever has been before and in its growing 
strength, like all other Unions, it is naturally more coercive. IIow 
many manufacturers, or other employers of labor, really know how 
coercive the Unions are? How many employers know that the 
vast majority of workmen are forced into the Unions against their 
wishes, this being particularly true of good men. Being in the 
Union, being subject to its laws and regulations without any hope 
of freeing themselves from the tyranny of the Walking Delegate 
and the Strike Boss, such men are unable to do what they would 
like to do, and what they should be encouraged to do, in the way 
of bettering their wages and increasing their output. 



1458 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


The policy of the Machinists’ Union is restrictive. The social¬ 
istic basis of Unionism takes as truth the statement that “ labor 
produces all wealth/” and instills into the workman the idea that 
he will not get his fair share of the product until he gets it all 
and naturally leads to more and more systematic “ soldiering ” 
in each development of the strength of this idea among the radical 
element of the Union. Many a man who is not naturally given to 
u soldiering ” is forced into it by his fellow-workmen. I know, 
for instance, that the president of the Machinists’ Union prides 
himself on the fact that in a number of cases he has succeeded in 
forcing manufacturers to abolish the “ Two Machine ” system of 
operation and putting one man to one machine. We know that a 

favorite demand of the Machinists’ Union is that no handv-man 

</ 

should be permitted to do what the Union considers a machinist’s 
job and that is any work at all on lathe, planer, shaper, milling 
machine, boring machine, slotting machine, vise or floor, leaving 
the handv-man simply to lift and carry. We know that in carry- 
ing out their ideas of restriction the Unions limit the number of 
apprentices wherever they are able to a point far beyond any 
natural and fair degree, making a scarcity of skilled mechanics, 
which is accentuated with the growth of mechanical industry, 
forming a “ corner ” in the labor market of any particular trade, 
whereby it is hoped to force wages to the utmost. 

How many of the members of this Societv know that at the last 
convention of the Machinists’ Union, held only a short time ago, 
it was decided that no work should be allowed in machine shops on 
any other plan but a “ go as you please ” day’s work plan ? All 
task work, premium work and contract work was to be abolished. 
Another piece of legislation of that convention was that all hon¬ 
orary retiring cards, which were given to members of the Machin¬ 
ists’ Union when put in charge of men, are to be called in, unless 
the holder of the card earns a salary of $3,500 per year or more. 
The idea of this is simply to compel foremen to be subject to the 
Union rather than to their employers, and to give the Union a 
stronger grip on the shop management. 

It is granted that all of these features are illegitimate unionism, 
but whether they are legitimate or illegitimate, they are a part 
of the Machinists’ Union policy to-day and as such must be reck¬ 
oned with by the shop manager. He must not only reckon with 
their policy, but he must reckon with the growing ability and 
desire to put that policy into force in his own particular establish- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1459 


ment. Therefore a question of pressing importance is: “ What 
are you going to do about it ? ” 

Individually the manufacturer cannot oppose the Unions ex¬ 
cepting at a tremendous cost, and even if he wins his fight alone 
he establishes no precedents and he has peace only for a time. 
His workmen, much as they might desire to continue under con¬ 
ditions of high w r ages and low labor cost, are coerced or ostracized 
into “ cutting their own throats.” The individual manufacturer, 
no matter how large the establishment, is not much of a protection 
to the workmen. In fact, if the employer is a stock company 
whose stock is a matter of public barter on the exchanges, it is 
exceedingly difficult for such a company to resist the encroach¬ 
ments of the Union. 

First, because of the pressure of the stockholders who are look¬ 
ing out for dividends, and cannot see that the maintenance of divi¬ 
dends sometimes requires a strenuous opposition to l nion methods, 
and, 

Second, from the directors, who may be making more money 
on the stock market than they are out of the dividends of their 
holdings, and therefore will not allow any policy to interfere with 
the price of the stock on the Exchange. This particularly applies 
to large companies, and their influence of course reacts tremen¬ 
dously on the smaller concerns. 

Some sort of protection against the coercive methods of the 
Union is absolutely necessary, both for the employer and for the 
willing employee. 

As every disease brings its own remedy, a homoeopathic treat¬ 
ment of Unionism has been found to be necessary, applying the 
principle of “ like cures like.” To counterbalance the strength 
gained by organization of the Unions, it is absolutely essential that 
the employers should also organize. They should oiganizc, 

First, for the purpose of defense. 

Second, for purposes of educating themselves, their workmen 
and their foremen, and 

Third, from motives of patriotism. In the matter ot detense it 
is self-evident that with the whole power of organized labor con¬ 
centrated on one individual firm there is much danger to that firm 
in individual resistance; collective resistance to injustice, how¬ 
ever, has never yet failed. # ,. 

For purposes of education, when employers are organized, dis- 

cussing on a neutral and fair ground among themselves the prob- 


1400 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


lems that confront them,bringing to bear their many minds on the 
various phases of the problems, they can arrive at a better solution 
than can any one individual. From the motives of patriotism, 
unless some efficient check is put on the uneconomic and un-Amer¬ 
ican principles of the Unions, we will not only find our industrial 
prosperity disappearing, as it has in England, but we will find our 
individual libertv and the liberties of our workmen undermined 
bv the boveott and the picket. 

The great engineers’ strike in England demonstrated that only 
by organization of employers could the evils of Unionism be con¬ 
trolled. The difficulty of the English manufacturers lay in the 
fact that they organized too late, and unless American manu¬ 
facturers, and particularly shop managers, awake to a realization 
of what is going on, put themselves in the way of securing the 
necessarv knowledge as to what Unionism means and what it is 
doing, and, not only for their own benefit, but for the benefit of 
this country and its citizens generally, put themselves in the posi¬ 
tion of effectively resisting the tyrannical and unjust things that 
are being done at this writing, unless such action is taken by the 
employers of this country, we will find ourselves confronted with 
the same evils that to-day confront England. 

The onlv trouble is that each establishment which has not yet 
been confronted with these phases of the question, feels that it had 
better not do anything until it is “ hit." In this connection, it is 
well to bear in mind the saying of Napoleon that, “ it is human 
nature not to bother about even the most pressing necessities until 
some absolutely urgent need arises compelling attention, and then 
ft is just too late." Discounting this feature of human nature 
was one of Napoleon’s characteristics and one of the elements of 
his success. 

It is the writer’s earnest desire that the employers of this 

country will think about this necessity before it is too late, and 

not allow themselves to.be “ tied hand and foot ” while they are 

• */ 

sleeping. 

Mr. John T. Hawkins .—The last written discussion of the 
paper read by the secretary, goes so thoroughly into the subject, 
and expresses so fully what I intended to say that it leaves little 
to be added thereto. I desire, however, to endorse those views 
most emphatically. As he has said or intimated: In all such 
papers as that under discussion we are indeed “ reckoning without 
our host.” 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1401 


Tlic paper states that it was written with the idea mainly of 
advocating “ high wages and low labor cost.” Such a consumma¬ 
tion is perfectly possible under proper conditions, and no doubt 
the paper points out how such desirable industrial advancement 
might be assisted in some small degree, provided that all such 
efforts were not offset and nullified a hundred fold by the antag¬ 
onistic spirit of trade unionism. Under the latter as it exists in 
this country to-day the primary proposition, as given by the author 
of the paper, is rendered of so little avail that it seems like a great 
waste of effort to even consider its particular features in the face 
of so great an obstacle, without first taking some steps to 
ameliorate the latter. 

The moment an employer attempts to better the conditions of 
manufacturing—to cheapen them however little by refinement of 
his processes, he is met by the infinitely greater obstacles placed 
in his way by the labor unions; and there is little use in their 
straining at their own gnats of improvement so long as they are 
obliged to swallow the labor union camels. 

The spirit of these unions is everywhere antagonistic to the 
cheapening of products or the methods of their production, on 
the principle that the less every man does the more will there be 
for the rest to do. They put every obstacle possible in the way 
of employers availing themselves of labor-saving machinery. It 
is the same spirit that destroyed cotton gins, looms and nail 
machines in older times. They have never yet been brought to 
see that if an employer cheapens the cost of his product by im¬ 
provement in methods and machinery he thus becomes so much 
the better able to pay high wages; or that the converse obtains. 

I think, therefore, that this paper, while most admirable in 
conception, is, as my predecessor above quoted has said, counting 
without its host. If this Society will formulate, mathematically 
or otherwise, some plan which will induce every man who enters 
a shop to work to do the best that is in him for the wages he has 
agreed to receive—which was generally the fashion when I was a 
young man—instead of doing the least possible, as is now the pre¬ 
vailing style, the object set forth by this paper would be more than 
possible; it would bring about that object a thousand fold beyond 
anything in that direction to be accomplished by any such means 
as is advocated in the paper under the antagonism of unionism. 
In fact it is the one and only path to the lowering of labor cost 
while increasing wages, and it is to be hoped that some of these 


1162 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


days—after perhaps a good many more years of costly experience 
—the labor unions or their individual members will be brought to 
see it. Until they do, and we continue to swallow their industrial 

t/ j 

camels, we might as well let our own gnats alone. 

Mr. II. Emerson .—For several years there has been industrial 
activity in the United States. We hope it may last, but to 
make it last we should realize the causes of this prosperity and 
aim to convert spasmodic accident into permanent, rational 
advantage. 

America, north of the tropics, thus including Canada, is a region 
of great natural resources, with superior producing and trans¬ 
portation equipment, mainly peopled by active, intelligent inhab¬ 
itants. This is, however, not enough. There was no prosperity 
in this vast region from 1893 to the latter half of 1S97, and then 
it was solely owing to a series of accidents that a great flood of 
abundance came, still running full. These accidents were the dis¬ 
covery of new gold fields of great richness, with a sudden and 
general increase in gold output; a famine abroad resulting in dollar 
and almost two dollar wheat for a whole season of exceptionally 
bountiful harvests at home; a foreign war with sudden expendi¬ 
tures aggregating $1,000,000,000. 

The gold yield eased the money market of the world, our ex¬ 
ports brought in over $1,000,000,000, our home war expenditures 
put into rapid circulation $1,000,000,000 more, and as a conse¬ 
quence vast works of rebuilding were undertaken. It is not too 
much to say that in the 17 years from 1893 to 1910 all the rail- 
ways in their road beds, track, bridges, terminals, rolling stock 
and motive equipment will be rebuilt; that the trolley systems will 
become equal to the steam railroads in mileage; that the whole 
ocean fleet is to be rebuilt, that the business and best residential 
portions of all our cities are to be rebuilt, and finally but not least, 
that every machine shop, every machine tool is to be re-equipped. 

When all this construction is done, what then? Shall we or 
shall we not be better prepared than our industrial rivals to cap¬ 
ture the world’s trade ? If we then do not have the relief and 
refuge of foreign markets, from which we must displace rivals 
already in possession, unless we can substitute production and 
operation for construction, the more we have done, the greater 
will be the horrible depression. 

To conquer and hold foreign markets we must produce and dis¬ 
tribute more cheaply and manage with greater skill and intelli- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1463 


geiH ‘0 than any other region in the world, and one of the tasks of 
good management is to diminish dissensions. 

It is not enough to have great fields, rich mines, fine railroads 
and great industrial plants. Lnless the man who works with his 
brains can harmonize the relations between those who work with 
their hands and those who work with their money, the efforts which 
should be directed and concentrated towards holding our own in 
the industrial world will be misdirected and frittered away in 
internal friction. 

The minds of many are alive with apprehension as to the future. 
On all sides we hear the warning that the relations between em¬ 
ployers and employes constitute the one great danger. It is 
because I belie\ e that the continuance of natural prosperity can 
only be attained by underbidding the rest of the world, and be¬ 
cause I believe that we can only underbid by surpassing the rest 
of the world, not only in natural resources but in harmony between 
employe and employer, in extensive organization, in eliminating 
from our national life waste methods, waste processes, waste time, 
[ regard the paper presented at this meeting by Mr. Taylor as 
the most important contribution ever presented to the Society, 
and one of the most important papers ever published in the United 
States. Mr. Day’s paper on “ Machine Shop Organization,” Mr. 
Gantt’s on a method of following work through a shop are fitting 
introduction and sequel to Mr. Taylor’s great paper. 

Mr. Taylor’s achievement is that he is the first one to use per¬ 
fected scientific methods, one of them a microscopic study of Time 
Units to get at the elemental cost of all production. lie shows 
how the combination of methods and equipment designed bv the 
brain worker, paid for by the capitalist and operated by the skilled 
worker can reduce costs of output to one-third of what they 
usually are. 

Mr. Taylor does not stop here. The brain worker and the cap¬ 
italist have long been working in harmony, but the third partner 
is an antagonist. Mr. Taylor shows the method by which, not as 
a concession or dole, but by a self-operating plan, the worker must 
be paid increasingly more if output is to be cheapened. 

In his essay Mr. Taylor treats only of the application of his 
plans to the machine shop. They are, however, of far greater 
reach. A somewhat careful study based on unusual opportunities 
of observation has convinced me that the rational efficiency of the 
male population of the United States of militia age does not exceed 


1464 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


five per cent, as compared to the nintey-five per cent, of the ideal 
machine shop planned and equipped let us say by Messrs. Dodge 
and Day, organized and directed by Mr. Taylor, and the work 
followed through under the methods of Mr. Gantt. 

The greatest latent wealth of a country does not lie in its nat¬ 
ural resources, not in its fertile fields or numerous railroads, not 
in its forests and mines. Switzerland is rugged, barren, cut off 
from the sea, without coal or iron, yet because its inhabitants are 
thrifty, frugal, intelligent, it has become one of the greatest manu¬ 
facturing countries in the world. New England is in North 
America what Switzerland is to Europe. Solely by intelligent or¬ 
ganization, not by natural resources, Prussia jumped to the front 
as a military power. Germany has jumped to the foremost rank 
in marine construction. 

Were all our inhabitants as frugal and thrifty as the Swiss or 
Japanese, as intelligently alert and energetic as the New England¬ 
ers, were our industries organized as is German shipbuilding, were 
Mr. Taylor’s methods generally applied, no country in the world 
would compete with North America. 

There should be no fear bv the worker that his store of increased 
remuneration can be curtailed. If the United States can produce 
and deliver cheaper than the balance of the world, every worker 
in America will find a reasonable opportunity to keep busy. IIis 
increase of pay and shortening of hours must be his share of the 
economies possible below the danger point of competition, and as 
the possible economies between perfect adjustment and present 
anarchy are close to ninety per cent, of the final cost to consumer, 
as it is much easier to attract twice as much capital by a slightlv 
increased rate and to double the number of highly specialized 
brain workers than suddenly to double the number of workers, 
each working member under the rational Taylor system will have 
it absolutely in his hands to exact his share of the economy. If 
there is a product now costing 1,000 units to be produced in a 
shop planned and equipped by Messrs. Dodge and Day, organized 
and directed by Mr. Taylor, work followed through by Mr. Gantt, 
so as to reduce cost to 300 units, even if the specially skilled, 
trained and willing workman required to run such a shop were 
paid 100 per cent, above the average, as Mr. Taylor suggests, if 
by organizing the relations between the shop and the community 
the cost could be still further reduced from 300 to 100 units, 
as from my own experience and results in organizing work I know 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1465 


it often can be, then by the operation of natural laws the skilled 
American worker must of necessity receive more, not less than 
the percentage allowed by Mr. Taylor. 

Mr. Taylor has done more than point the way. It is hence¬ 
forth the organizer’s, the planner’s own fault if labor’s discontent 
cannot be successfully allayed and harmony be secured where now 
there is antagonism. 

A beautiful lesson can be learned from the way the bees have 
been induced to increase the production of honey. The bees are 
perfected socialists, and no one can induce them to change either 
their habits, laws or methods, yet by adjusting equipment and 
implements to their rules of life, the net result is that the bees 
have a pleasanter, safer time and more abundant provision against 
want, while the man who has co-operated with the bees obtains 
three times as much honey as his European peasant rival and a 
hundred times as much honey as the savage who despoils without 
either directing or co-operating. 

In the past, management, often skilled, often wise and selfish 
has evolved many plans to force from unwilling men an increase 
of effort without corresponding increase of reward. The workers 
have retaliated by organizations which as unreasonably expect to 
increase wages and shorten hours without correspondingly lessen¬ 
ing cost. Such wasteful methods should be left to Europe, and 
organizing and harmonizing work should be placed in the control 
of those who, with experience of their own and results to show, 
are almost able to guarantee harmony of relations and very greatly 
reduced costs. 

Mr. F. A. Halsey .—I do not consider that Mr. Taylor is justified 
in calling the Premium Plan the Towne-Halsey plan. Of course 
it is a difficult matter to draw hard and fast lines in these matters, 
but I cannot regard Mr. Towne’s plan as an anticipation of my 
own. It is much more closely allied to profit sharing, from which 
it differs chiefly in limiting the gains which are divided among the 
workmen to those under their control. It is thus a strictly econ¬ 
omic and not an eleemosynary plan, which latter the profit sharing 
plan is. In its method of administration it is precisely the same 
as the profit sharing plan, with which again it agrees in treating 
the men in a body and not as individuals. 

Mr. Tayler characterizes the Premium Plan as a drifting system 
and as being based upon deceit, by which I take it he means that 
records established by the workmen are used as the basis of the 


1406 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


system. In my paper, “ The Premium Plan of Paying for 
Labor,” which appears in Yol. XII of the Transactions , the follow¬ 
ing will be found upon page 764: 

“ On contract work undertaken for the first time, the method 
is the same except that the premium is based on the estimated time 
for the execution of the work.” 

Xow, as I look at it, what Mr. Taylor has done in connection 
with his time study methods has been to determine the estimated 

xJ 

time with greater accuracy. The fact is that this basing of the 
Premium Plan upon the estimated time is a very common thing 
in Great Britain. It is a curious fact that while the plan has, in 
this country, been applied chiefly to repetition work, it has in 
Great Britain, been applied chiefly to work of the opposite char¬ 
acter. This is probably due to the fact that it was first adopted 
in Great Britain by David Bowan & Co., of Glasgow, who are 
builders of marine engines, and the spread of the system has been 
to shops which are essentially of the same general character. In 
nearly all of the numerous papers upon the system which have 
been presented to British engineering societies, a great deal of 
attention has been paid to the rate fixing department, which is 
considered an essential feature of the system, as indeed it is with 
work of the character there done. This term “ rate fixing depart¬ 
ment ” was the first one used by Mr. Taylor for what he now calls 
the “ time study ” department and the use of the term in Great 
Britain no doubt follows Mr. Taylor’s use of it here. 

Xo doubt this rate fixing is not done by the minute methods of 
analysis which Mr. Taylor uses, but the point is that through it the 
Premium Plan is used on work which has not been made before, 
and hence it seems to me that this statement of Mr. Tavlor that 

xJ 

the system is a drifting system and based on deceit is unfounded. 
The essential feature of the system relates to the method of pay¬ 
ment and not to the method of setting the rates. 

The leading difference beween Mr. Taylor’s plan and my own 
is that he tells the workman by means of his instruction cards how 
to produce the expected results, whereas my plan depends upon 
the initiative of the workman. I have no doubt that there is a 
large field of work to which Mr. Taylor’s plan is applicable, and 
in which it will produce better results than my own, but I am just 
as well satisfied that there is a much larger field in which we 
cannot afford the expense attending the organization which Mr. 
Taylor contemplates and in which better results will be obtained 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1467 


m the end by depending upon the initiative of the workman. The 
conditions winch Mr. Taylor found at Bethlehem and at Mid¬ 
vale are ideal for his system, but I do not believe that they furnish 
criteria for the general usefulness of the system. 

It should be noted that Mr. Taylor’s plan not only determines 
the maximum output, but deliberately tells the workman how to 
produce that output—every possible means being provided for in¬ 
ducing and even compelling him to adopt the combination of feed, 
speed, etc., which has been determined to be most suitable. Now* 
when the workman has done this, why should a bonus be paid him 
for doing it ? He has simply followed orders and produced ex¬ 
pected results, and I am unable to see the justification for any 
additional pay for doing that. My plan pays the premium as a 
reward for the workman’s use of his wits and his intelligence. 
Mr. Taj loi s plan takes the exercise of that intelligence entirely 
away from the workman and lodges it in someone else who is paid 
especially for the exercise of those functions, and it seems to me 
that in taking away the very thing for which the premiums are 
paid, it has destroyed the economic soundness of the premiums. 
Of course this remark does not apply to manual labor, in which 
the increased output is obtained only by increased exertion by the 
workman; but when it comes to the operation of machines without 
additional effort of any kind on the part of the workman, the 
justification for increased pay is destroyed. 

Mr. F. JV. Taylor .—After hearing Mr. Halsey’s criticism it 
seems to me that he is under a misapprehension as to the true 
underlying principles of the Towne-IIalsey plan and my system. 

There is no doubt that there is more or less confusion in the 
minds of many of those who have read about the two svstems, and 
this extends also to those who are actually using and working 
under them. This is practically true in England, where in some 
cases my system is actually being used under the name of the 
“ Premium Plan.” It would therefore seem desirable to indicate 
more clearly the essential difference between the two. 

The one element which the Towne-IIalsey plan and my system 
of management have in common is that both recognize the all 
important fact that workmen cannot be induced to work extra 
hard without receiving extra pay. Under both systems the men 
who succeed are daily and automatically as it were paid an extra 
premium. The payment of this daily premium forms such a char¬ 
acteristic feature in both systems and so radically differentiates 


1408 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


these systems from those which were in use before, that people are 
apt to look upon this one element as the essence of both systems 
and so fail to recognize the more important, underlying principles 
upon which the success of each of them is based. 

In their essence, with the one exception of the payment of a 
daily premium, the systems stand at the two opposite extremes in 
the field of management; and it is owing to the distinctly radical, 
though opposite, positions taken by them that each one owes its 
success; and it seems to me a matter of importance that this should 
be understood. In any executive work which involves the co¬ 
operation of two different men or parties, where both parties have 
anything like equal power or voice in its direction, there is almost 
sure to be a certain amount of bickering, quarreling and vacilla¬ 
tion and the success of the enterprise suffers accordingly. If, 
however, either one of the parties has the entire direction, the 
enterprise will progress consistently and probably harmoniously, 
even although the wrong one of the two parties may be in control. 

Broadly speaking, in the field of management there are two 
parties—the superintendents, etc.,.on one side and the men on the 
other, and the main questions at issue are the speed and accuracy 
with which the work shall be done. Up to the time that my 
system was introduced in the Midvale Steel Works, it can be fairly 
said that under the old svstems of management the men and the 
management had about equal weight in deciding how fast the 
work should be done Shop records showing the quickest time in 
which each job had been done and more or less shrewd guessing 
being the means on which the management depended for bargain¬ 
ing with and coercing the men; and deliberate soldiering for the 
purpose of misinforming the management being the weapon used 
by the men in self-defence. Under the old system the incentive 
was entirely lacking which is needed to induce men to co-operate 
heartily with the management in increasing the speed with which 
work is turned out. It is chiefly due, under the old systems, to 
this divided control of the speed with which the work shall be 
done that such an amount of bickering, quarreling and often 
hard feeling exists between the two sides. 

The essence of my system lies in the fact that the control of 
the speed problem rests entirely with the management, and on 
the other hand, the true strength of the Towne-Halsey plan rests 
upon the fact that under it the question of speed is settled en¬ 
tirely by the men without interference on the part of the manage- 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1469 


ment. 11ms in both cases, though from diametrically opposite 
causes, there is undivided control, and this is the chief element 
needed for harmony. 

So far as I know, I was the first to introduce a system of man- 
agement containing the following elements: 

1. A careful study of the time required to do the work. 

2. Detailing instructions to the men, telling them how they are 
to do their work. 

3. The thorough standardization of all details which affect the 
speed of the work. 

4. The payment of a premium for success accompanied by a 
corresponding loss in case of failure. 

This system was introduced in the Midvale Steel Works of 
Philadelphia in 1884. In 1880 Mr. Towne read his paper on 
‘‘Gains Sharing 1 ’ before this Society, and in 1891, seven years 
after my system had been in use on an extensive scale, Mr. Halsey 
wrote his paper on the “ Premium Plan.” 

Mr. Halsey has objected to having his scheme called a a drift¬ 
ing ” system. I have used the word “ drifting ” without the 
slightest intention of slurring it or in the least detracting from its 
true merit. It appears to me, however, that “ drifting ” very 
accurately describes it, for the reason that the management, having 
turned over the entire control of the sj^eed problem to the men, 
the latter being influenced by their prejudices and whims, drift 
sometimes in one direction and sometimes in another; but on the 
whole, sooner or later, under the stimulus of the premium, move 
toward a higher rate of speed. This drifting, accompanied as it 
is bv the irregularity and uncertainty both as to the final result 
.which will be attained and as to how long it will take to reach this 
end, is in marked contrast to the distinct goal which is always 
kept in plain sight of both parties under my system, and the clear- 
cut directions which leave no doubt as to the means which are to 
be employed nor the time in which the work must be done; and 
these elements constitute the fundamental difference between the 
two systems. Mr. Halsey, in objecting to the use of the word 

drifting ” as describing his system, has referred to the use of 
his system in England in connection with a “ rate fixing ” or 
planning department, and quotes as follows from his paper to 
show that he contemplated control of the speed of the work by 
the management: 

“ On contract work undertaken for the first time the method is 


1470 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


the same except that the premium is based on the estimated time 
for the execution of the work.” 

In making this claim Mr. Halsey appears to have entirely lost 
sight of the real essence of the two plans. It is my system which 
is in use in England, not his; and in the above quotation he 
describes not his system but mine, in which the men are paid a 
premium for carrying out the directions given them by the man¬ 
agement. lie has forgotten that under my system the men were 
paid a premium for doing the work in the time estimated by the 
management seven years before he wrote his paper. 

In questioning why any premium is necessary under my system 
in the latter part of his remarks, Mr. Halsey appears to have en¬ 
tirely lost sight of the necessity for the one element which the two 
systems have in common, namely, the payment of a premium for 
extra hard work. I think that I have called attention so carefully 
in the paper to the fact that men will not do extra hard work for 
ordinary pay that no further reference to this fact is required. 
It is needless to say that machines do not run themselves, but 
are run by men, and the larger the amount of work turned out 
by the machine the greater will be the work and attention de¬ 
manded from the workman. 

There is ample room for the use of the Towne-IIalsey plan 
as well as for mine, but the line of demarkation between the two 
is not that drawn by Mr. Halsey. My system is not only appli¬ 
cable to large works such as the Midvale Steel Company and the 
Bethlehem Steel Company, as implied by Mr. Halsey. It is 
applicable to and in successful use in works of all kinds, large 
and small, complicated and simple, and can be used for all kinds 
of labor. It is capable, in my judgment, in all cases, of pro¬ 
ducing both quicker and much more certain, larger and more 
satisfactory results to both sides than the Towne-IIalsey plan. 
J clearly recognize the fact, however, that there are many em- 
. ployers who will not give the time nor take the trouble to intro¬ 
duce my system; and to such men the Towne-Halsey plan is to 
be recommended as better than any of the old systems in com¬ 
mon use. 

Mr. Oherlin Smith .—If the argument of one of the last speak¬ 
ers was carried out, it would resemble the case of the Irishman 
who went to a store to buy a cook stove, the storekeeper assuring 
him it would save half his coal bill, whereupon he said, “ Sure 
I‘ll take two stoves and save it all! ” 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1471 


Xow a word about unions. I think that if we are going to 
he pessimistic, and to expect that all these efforts to improve our 
methods and cheapen our products are going to be foiled by 
unions we are mistaken. There are several elements which will 
gradually rid us of these troubles. One is that the men com¬ 
posing the unions, as they become better educated and affiliate 
more with people like us, will become more sensible. I think 
one of the greatest works which this Society could do would be to 
foment some system throughout the country for introducing a 
new political economy into our public schools. If certain eco¬ 
nomic treatises especially devoted to the labor problem could be 
taught freely in our public schools we would raise up a generation 
of boys who would know that the greater production there is in 
this world, with a given effort, the richer they would all be in 
the long run. The workingmen do not know enough now, but 
they are all the time learning. And then we may get some¬ 
thing like the Hew Zealand system, where labor unions are desired 
by employers and by employed alike—and where manufacturer's 
unions are equally recognized and desired by all parties. That 
is, both unions desire each other, and all disputes are passed 
upon by commissioners appointed by both. If they fail, appeal 
is made to a higher commission under the control of the Govern¬ 
ment, and partially composed of one or more judges of the 
Supreme Court. This system is said to be working exceedingly 
well. It is to be hoped that we shall gradually come towards 
something like that in this country. Another element that al¬ 
ready lias a beginning consists of such associations as the American 
Metal Trades Association which, although apparently formed to 
combat the unions, is really affiliating to some extent with them 
making the employers and the workingmen better acquainted all 
the time. When we get so that officers of such associations can 
take a glass of beer with the workingman’s representatives and 
talk the matter out, we may get some of these troubles settled, 

and all have a pretty good time. 

I want to congratulate the Society and the writers of these 
three papers upon the splendid work they have given us, and espe¬ 
cially Mr. Taylor, because his paper is more comprehensive than 
the others. One fine point about it is that it is not his only, lie 
has taken in all that is good that he could get from anywhere, and 
I believe the Society is doing a good work in disseminating such 
facts and records as are contained in papers of this sort. 


94 



1472 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


Mr. Ayres .—I want to say that I have taken charge of an old 
plant. The plant was unionized. I tried to put in this system and 
for four months was practically unable to do so: that is, the bonus 
system. Finally one man consented to take it. He was planing 
guides. lie succeeded in making his bonus for two days then 
stopped. I paid no attention to it for as much as a week, noticing 
it, however, every day. I finally went to the man and said: “ Wil¬ 
son, how does it happen that you have given up your bonus? That 
was worth forty cents a day to you ? ” lie said, “ Did you notice 
the guides the other day ? They had written on them, ‘ lie is 
driving us out of a job ‘ Metal pushed off, not cut/ and a few 
other inscriptions of a similar character. Those remarks had 
been put on by some of his fellow workingmen. He, however, 
took up the bonus again, and at the end of two weeks he said he 
had a cousin working in the shop who would like to take up the 
bonus business too. I was very glad, of course, and I fixed an 
instruction card at once, so that he could begin it that day. I 
do not want you to compare the times of doing the work, which 
perhaps I might give you, with what could be done in some other 
shops where you have the best of machinery, but I will simply 
tell you what was done, and what is being done. We were bor¬ 
ing some brasses, and I allowed a man forty minutes to do it in. 
Ilis day rate was 22J cents an hour. lie did those brasses in 
thirty-seven and one-half minutes instead of taking forty min¬ 
utes. With the bonus which I allowed him, the wages which 
that man earned were 27.6 cents per hour instead of 22T cents. 
The cost per piece to me was 17£ cents, where before it was 
done on the bonus work it was 28 cents. Showing a decrease in 
cost of about 10J cents per piece to me and an increase to him 
of practically fifty cents per day. The planing of frames was 
another instance of which I have the figures here. A man run¬ 
ning a planer was getting 20 cents per hour. With his bonus 
he made 24.1 cents per hour, decreasing my cost at the same 
time, and not only doing that but at the same time increasing 
the output. So that we are getting a larger output with the 
same capital tied up in the plant. I could give you other in- 
tances of the same kind. Paneling main rods, a man on the mil¬ 
ling machine was getting 22 cents an hour, and he made 32.8 
cents per hour, and at the same time decreased the cost of the 
output 24 per cent. I have no trouble in getting men to take 
bonus work now. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1473 


Mr. Gantt .—I just introduced Mr. Ayres as he is a new mem¬ 
ber and rather bashful. iSTow I would like to say a word or 
tw’o on my own hook. What Mr. Ayres said is about a loco¬ 
motive works, not a steel works; but the principles applied there 
are the principles said to be only applicable to a steel works. I 
do not care to enlarge upon that, because those who know what 
the locomotive is know that the work done in the locomotive shop 
is about as general as it is anywhere else. 

Mr. John Balch Blood .—All careful considered action comes 
through the following processes: 

Perception of conditions. 

Collection of data. 

Collation of facts. 

Development of criteria. 

Application to action. 

At present a larger part of the wage question is determined 
without any adequate basis of information upon which to act, 
and the svstematic method of obtaining information which is 
used in every branch of engineering and on all important ques¬ 
tions is apparently ignored in this question, which question is 
one of the fundamental social questions. The bringing forth of 
the importance of accurate information on this subject by Mr. 
Taylor cannot be too strongly valued, as it alone would largely 
aid in this subject irrespective of anything else. In my experi¬ 
ence I have found that any method of determining wages where 
personality enters is sure to breed suspicion and discontent. It 
would seem, therefore, that some other basis than time should 
serve as a basis of wage calculation. 

I believe that the basis of calculation should be other than 
time, and in working out this problem myself I have made use 
of what I call “ work units/’ which units would present two 
factors—time and intensity, ability or skill. In determining 
such work units, personal factor of soldiering or incorrect timing 
would not appear, and the relative value in two different jobs 
could be demonstrated to the satisfaction of laborer and em¬ 
ployer. 

i believe that all form of labor from purely manual labor 
to the highest skilled labor should appear in the same category as 
work units, and that the wage should be so much per work unit 
with a given rate and with an increasing price per unit for an 


1474 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


increased rate. For instance, the following might serve for a 
schedule. 


Units per day. 

Rate per unit. 

Daily wage . 

1.00 

|1.00 

$1.00 

1.50 

1.10 

1.65 

2 00 

1.20 

2.40 

2.50 

1.35 

3.38 

3.00 

1.50 

4.50 

3 50 

1.70 

5.95 

4.00 

1.90 

7.60 


It is quite necessary that the price per unit be increased with 
the increased rate of units per dav. With this system a man 
. working on a given piece of work might work at different rates. 
At all times the incentive to increase rate would be present, as 
the increased pay per unit would take effect on the whole work 
if the rate per day was increased. This could be still further 
emphasized by placing the work in classes and allowing an extra 
premium for an increase from one class to another, on condition 
that a forfeit be recognized if the speed of the higher class was 
not maintained. 

Lack of knowledge breeds suspicion and antagonism. A thor¬ 
ough system of making rates which is demonstrable and which is 
independent of personality will bring mutual helpfulness and 
increase the annual output of work. 

Mr, John T. Hawkins .—I want to give you a couple of in¬ 
stances illustrating the spirit of trades unionism towards the 
idea of reducing the cost of products. 

In a machine shop which had been forced to become an ex¬ 
clusively union shop in order to avoid a supposedly disastrous 
boycott which had been threatened, there was a little labor- 
saving device with which you are all familiar, namely a power 
hack-saw. 

I need not tell you that this little machine requires almost 
no attention: when cutting off say 1^ inch round rods not more 
than a half minute in every hour. When the shop was a free 
one it had been the practice to require someone otherwise gener¬ 
ally engaged to reset the tool wh£n a piece dropped off. As soon 
as it became a union shop, however, the so-called “ shop 
steward,” who thenceforward practically ran the shop, insisted 
that a boy be kept sitting by this machine all day, while actually 
occupied less than one-twelfth of his time. This is the way that 
labor-saving device was permitted to save labor; and there is not 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1475 


the slightest doubt that had the proprietor refused to comply 
he would have had a strike on his hands. 

Another typical case is this: I had occasion to solicit an 
estimate for a large lot of a new article of glass from a glass 
works in Xew Bedford, Mass. The manager informed me that 
I would have to furnish a mold at my own expense, to which I 
agreed; but before going to that expense desired to know the 
price at which he would furnish the goods. He informed me 
that nothing could be done until the mold was produced, upon 
which he would submit the same to the glass makers’ union, and 
as soon as their walking delegate or business manager, or what¬ 
ever this important individual was then called, decided how many 
of the articles he would allow a man to make for a day’s work, 
the proprietor would give me the figures desired. 

Mr. H..M . Lane .—I would like to say just a word upon the 
subject. For several years I have been watching the machine 
shops of the country, gathering material for our Shop Practice 
Course, in Scranton. I have been very much interested in a 
series of circumstances occurring in one of the largest shops in 
this country. I have seen it pass under three managements, and 
it has been very instructive to me as to what could be done in a 
strongly organized union shop. First, the manager tried to drive 
everything through the shop without having a good system of 
keeping track of the work. The result of his effort was that the 
shop was always in a congested condition, with work and cast¬ 
ings piled up in every direction. Castings were lost and never 
found and all sorts of trouble were experienced. 

The next manager that came in got hold of the foreman and 
superintendent and started a series of blanks in operation, which 
were evidently working nicely when they changed superintend¬ 
ents again. Up to this time the management made practically 
no change in equipment, but the introduction of the blanks had 
to a large extent cleared up the floor. The new superintendent 
got the idea that he was kind of a bulldog and his idea was to 
chase everything, hence he dropped a large portion of the blank 
system and tried to chase the men and the work until he chased 

%J 

himself out. 

The next superintendent who took charge dropped between the 
two extremes and he has accomplished two things. First, he 
adopted a system of blanks which enabled him to prevent the 
loss of castings and tell whether the work was getting along right 


1476 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


or not, but the point which interested me most was the way he 
has gotten around the men in regard to getting work out. 4 or 
instance, in the foundry where they were making a certain piece 
of work in a loam mould, the men limiting the output, he simply 
turned around and made it in dry sand. By changing his 
method in this case and in others, and taking the work out of 
the hands of one class of moulders and putting it into the hands 
of another he was able to circumvent their idea as to how fast 
a particular piece of work should be done. He first made an 
estimate of the time the work should take, and then by changing 
the method and making the necessary-rigging he got the work 
done according to his estimate. In the machine shop the new 
high speed tool steel and the use of new machines has enabled 
him to make similar changes and a corresponding saving of 
time. 

Mr. Ilenshaw .—As pointed out by one of the last speakers, the 
subject we have under discussion is of enormous importance— 
probably the most important industrial engineering question that 
has ever come before this Societv. We have been familiar for 
years with the splendid work of Mr. Taylor and others, but, like 
a great many good things, when we come away from these meet¬ 
ings we are apt to say, “ Oh, yes, it can be done in that shop, but 
my conditions are a little different, and I don’t think it would 
pay me.” Then, again, we have the bugbear of Trades Unions 
in the background. How the suggestion that I would like to 
make is that this Society form a standing committee on the subject 
of shop management, and consider all the data which have been 
brought up, and, if it takes them twenty years, get out of it if 
possible a system so perfect that it can be universally applied. It 
may be then that by the application of such a system in every 
shop the Trades Union question will be settled. It seems to me 
that such a result is possible. 

Mr. Wm. Kent .—Apropos of what the last speaker has said, 
we all remember that about the year 1775 some people down in 
Boston were talking about a tax on tea, and some of them said 
they would have to submit to it, otherwise their warehouses and 
docks would be shut up and their business destroyed. How the 
descendants of those people say if we attempt to oppose the 
unions the unions will shut us up and drive us out of business. 
Then, too, I think we all remember that there was another set 
of men back in 1775 who went and threw that tea in Boston 



SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1477 


Lay and started the Revolutionary War. I hope there is some 
of that kind of blood left in New England yet. 

Mr. Taylor. —Mr. DeBrule and Mr. Hawkins have called 
attention to the most interesting and difficult problem connected 
with management, namely, how to persuade union men to do a 
full day’s work if the union does not wish them to do it. I am 
glad of the opportunity of saying what I think on the matter, 
and of explaining somewhat in detail just how I should expect, 
in fact, how I have time after time induced union men to do 
a large day’s work, quite as large as other men do. 

In dealing with union men certain general principles should 
never be lost sight of. These principles are the proper ones to 
apply to all men, but in dealing with union men their application 
becomes all the more imperative. 

1. One should be sure, beyond the smallest doubt, that what 
is demanded of the men is entirely just and can surely be accom¬ 
plished. This certainty can only be reached by a minute and 
thorough time study. 

2. Exact and detailed directions should be given to the work¬ 
man telling him, not in a general way but specifying in every 
small particular, just what he is to do and how he is to do it. 

3. It is of the utmost importance in starting to make a change 
that the energies of the management should be centered upon one 
single workman, and that no further attempt at improvement 
should be made until entire success has been secured in this case. 

Judgment should be used in selecting for a start work of such 
a character that the most clearcut and definite directions can be 
given regarding it, so that failure to carry out these directions 
will constitute direct disobedience of a simple, straightforward 
order. 

4. In case the workman fails to carry out the order the man¬ 
agement should be prepared to demonstrate that the work called 
for can be done by having some one connected with the manage¬ 
ment actually do it in the time called for. 

The mistake which is usually made in dealing with union men, 
and which I have no doubt Mr. Hawkins made, lies in giving an 
order which affects a number of workmen at the same time and 
in laying stress upon the increase in the output which is de¬ 
manded instead of emphasizing one by one the details which the 
workman is to carry out in order to attain the desired result. In 
the first case a clear issue is raised: say that the man must turn 


1478 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


out fifty per cent, more pieces than lie lias in the past, and 
therefore it will be assumed by most people that he must work 
fifty per cent, harder; and in this issue the union is more than 
likely to have the sympathy of the general public, and they can 
logically take it up and fight upon it. If, however, the work¬ 
man is given a series of plain, simple and reasonable orders, and 
is offered a premium for carrying them out, the union will have 
a much more difficult task in defending the man who disobeys 
them. To illustrate: If we take the case of a complicated piece 
of machine work which is being done on a lathe or other machine 
tool, and the workman is called upon (under the old type of man¬ 
agement) to increase his output by twenty-five or fifty per cent., 
there is opened a field of argument in which the assertion of the 
man, backed by the union, that the task is impossible or too hard 
will have quite as much weight as that of the management. If, 
however, the management begins by analyzing in detail just how 
each section of the work should be done and then writes out com¬ 
plete instructions specifying the tools to be used in succession, 
the cone step on which the driving belt is to run, the depth of 
cut and the feed to be used, the exact manner in which the 
work is to be set in the machine, etc., and if before starting to 
make any change they have trained in as functional foremen 
several men who are particularly expert and well informed in 
their specialties, as, for instance, a speed boss, gang boss and 
inspector; if you then place for example a speed boss alongside 
of that workman, with an instruction card clearly written out, 
stating what both the speed boss and the man whom he is in¬ 
structing are to do, and that card says you are to use such and 
such a tool, put your driving belt on this cone, and use this feed 
on your machine, and if you do so you will get out the work in 
such and such a time, I can hardly conceive of a case in which 
a union could prevent the boss from ordering the man to put 
his driving belt just where he said and using just the feed cnat 
he said; and in doing that the workman can hardly fail to get 
the work out on time. Xo union would dare to sav to the man- 
agement of a works, you shall not run the machine with the belt 
on this or that cone step. They do not come down specifically in 
that way; they say, “ You shall not work so fast,” but they do 
not say, “ You shall not use such and such a tool, or run with 
such a feed or at such a speed.” However much they would 
like to do it, they do not dare to interfere specifically in this way. 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


1179 


l\ow, when your single man, under the supervision of a speed 
boss, gang boss, etc., runs day after day at the given speed and 
feed and gets work out in the time that the instruction card calls 
for, and when a premium is kept for him in the office for having 
done the work in the required time, you begin to have a moral 
suasion on that workman which is very powerful. At first he 
won’t take the premium if it is contrary to the laws of his union, 
but as time goes on and it piles up and amounts to a big item, he 
will be apt to step into the office and ask for his premium, au 
before long your man will be a thorough convert 
system, ddow, after one man has been pt 
the four functional foremen, etc., that W- v : ‘o 
under the new system than under the laws 
Mien take the next man, and so conver 
through your shop, and as time goes on uc 
around more and more rapidly your way. 

I have a profound req> c io v e w 
States: they are in the m m - 


course, but they are a-.: : so 
fools among them; so there 
respects misguided men, a;, 
mation that they have n<#t a 

I have quite as great a re 
as for any other class of men 
and all that they need to mak 
of proper object lessons. Wheiytin 
is offered them which will yield them iaru e . ; _ . . 
union can offer they will promptly drop him i own. 
sary object lessons can best be given by centering the e h • . 
the management upon one spot. The mistake that ninety-nine 
men out of a hundred make—and I fancy that Mr. Hawkins- 
friends in Massachusetts have done this—is that they have at¬ 
tempted to influence a large body of men at once instead of tak¬ 
ing one man at a time. 

I think that Mr. Hawkins lias also overlooked another import¬ 
ant factor, and that is the question of time. If Mr. Hawkins 
expects large results in six months or a year in a very large works 
he is looking for the impossible. If lie expects to convert union 
men to a higher rate of production, coupled with high wages, in 
six months or a year, he is expecting next to an impossibility. 
But if he is patient enough to wait for two or three vear« b* 





1480 


SHOP MANAGEMENT. 


can go among almost any set of workmen in this country and 
not find the trouble which he did in Massachusetts. 

Mr. Hawkins .—I have waited six years now. 

Mr. Taylor .—Have you tried the incisive plan of centering on 
one man, instead of going at the whole shooting-match at once? 
I think failure is due to a lack of patient persistence on the part 
of the employers and then to a lack of centering right on to a 
-ingle man. Xo workman can long resist the help and persua- 
.,‘■•>11 of five foremen over him. lie will either do the work as he 
i leave. 

limning .—We have heard much about this inter- 
have been deeply interested, and we have 
to how to make money and to get along with 
ve mig'o. -erv well now pass a vote of thanks 
, mt and Mr. Taylor. Gentlemen, I hope 
me and give a hearty vote to these three 
oration of these admir T 1, papers. . 

‘c 1 and carried unanimously. 


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